CPJ is honored to present its 2026 International Press Freedom Award to photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike.
Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist with the independent news outlet Myanmar Now, was arrested on May 23, 2023, while covering the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe, where many members of the persecuted Rohingya minority were killed in the storm.
In September 2023, a military tribunal sentenced Sai Zaw Thaike to 20 years with hard labor in Yangon’s Insein Prison. This is among the longest known journalism-related sentences given in Myanmar since the military’s democracy-suspending coup in 2021.
In January 2025, he was subjected to physical abuse and retaliatory torture, which is believed to be in response to Sai Zaw Thaike and two other prisoners having informed visiting National Human Rights Commission representatives about prison staff violating other inmates’ human rights.
Sai Zaw Thaike had been denied medical treatment for severe kidney disease and hemorrhoids that required major surgery. Following that, CPJ submitted his case to the Media Freedom Coalition, calling for urgent intervention. Sai Zaw Thaike’s abuse in detention and denial of medical care are common among Myanmar journalists who have been detained.
Myanmar was ranked as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, with 30 cases documented in CPJ’s 2025 prison census. Sai Zaw Thaike’s case is emblematic of Myanmar junta’s abysmal record of jailing journalists to silence critical media coverage and snuff out the country’s once-flourishing free press.