Bangkok, October 22, 2024 – Myanmar’s Kachin Independence Army (KIA) must account for and release Red News Agency reporter Ta Lin Maung and freelancer Naung Yoe who were arrested by the rebel group’s forces on September 29 and 30 respectively, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
“All combatants in Myanmar’s civil war have a responsibility to protect, and not target, journalists,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The Kachin Independence Army should not act like Myanmar’s junta by detaining journalists for their news reporting. It should free Ta Lin Maung and Naung Yoe now.”
As of October 22, the KIA had not responded to requests for information about the status or whereabouts of the two reporters since they were detained in northern Kachin State’s Phakant Township, Win Zaw Naing, editor of the local independent Red News Agency, told CPJ by email.
CPJ’s phone calls and text messages to request comment from two KIA spokespeople went unanswered.
Ta Lin Maung and Naung Yoe are the first Myanmar journalists to be detained by an insurgent group since conflict erupted in response to a 2021 military coup.
The KIA is one of the more powerful ethnic armed organizations that have fought for greater autonomy in Myanmar for decades.
Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 43 journalists behind bars, at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2023, prison census.