Burma: Journalists Given 10 years’ Hard Labour for Article on Chemical Weapons Factory

The sentencing of five media workers in Myanmar each to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for “disclosing state secrets” makes today a dark day for freedom of expression in the country, Amnesty International said.

A court in the town of Pakokku today handed down the sentences to four reporters and the CEO of the Unity newspaper – Lu Maw Naing, Yarzar Oo, Paing Thet Kyaw, Sithu Soe and Tint San […]

မဟာသႏၲိသုခ ေက်ာင္းေတာ္ႀကီးႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ အစိုးရ၏ အဓမၼေျဖရွင္းမႈအေပၚ သေဘာထား ေၾကညာခ်က္ ထုတ္ျပန္ျခင္း

Burma: Investigate Death of Former Political Prisoner

AAPP is deeply saddened to learn about the passing of former political prisoner Phyo Wai Aung. He passed away due to liver cancer at his home in Rangoon on 4 January 2012, only 5 months after his release from Insein prison where he served 2 years […]

Another Journalist Gets a Long Jail Sentence

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are appalled that yet another journalist has been given a long jail term. A Rangoon court sentenced video reporter Maung Maung Zeya on 4 February to five years in prison for two violations of the Unlawful Association Act, one year under the Immigration Act (for crossing the border illegally) and […]

2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Burma

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Burma, with an estimated population of 54 million, is ruled by a highly authoritarian military regime dominated by the majority ethnic Burman group. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), led by Senior General Than Shwe, was the country’s de facto government. Military officers wielded the ultimate authority at each level of government. […]