Myanmar Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is led handcuffed from a court in Yangon in September. He and colleague Wa Lone are serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal

December 13, 2018 12:00 AM EST

For the third year in a row, 251 or more journalists are jailed around the world, suggesting the authoritarian approach to critical news coverage is more than a temporary spike. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

An officer stand guards before Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar. Three journalists from Eleven Media were remanded to the prison after raising questions about public spending in Yangon. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP)

Myanmar arrests three journalists from Eleven Media

October 10, 2018 5:29 PM EDT

New York, October 10, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Myanmar authorities to immediately release without charge three journalists from Eleven Media Group arrested today.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon talks about global press freedom violations during a Press Behind Bars panel at the U.N. (Reuters)

CPJ’s Joel Simon speaks at Press Behind Bars panel

September 28, 2018 2:13 PM EDT

Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon addressed a panel event at the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2018. The event highlighted global press freedom violations and the jailing of journalists in countries around the world, with a specific focus on cases in Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh,…

Live Stream – Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy

September 27, 2018 5:09 PM EDT

Event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 28, 2018. Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, Reuters President and CPJ board member Stephen J. Adler, and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents the imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, speak on a panel at the 73rd…

People march to show solidarity for jailed Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Yangon, Myanmar, on September 1, 2018, two days before a local court sentenced them to 7 years in prison on charges of breaching the country's Official Secrets Act. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

CPJ condemns conviction in Myanmar of Reuters’s Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo

September 3, 2018 12:17 AM EDT

Bangkok, September 3, 2018–A Myanmar court today sentenced two Reuters news agency reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, to seven years each in prison for violating the Official Secrets Act, Reuters reported.

Detained Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is escorted by police while leaving Insein court in Yangon, Myanmar on July 9, 2018. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Myanmar court charges Reuters reporters under official secrets act

July 9, 2018 7:27 AM EDT

Bangkok, July 9, 2018 – A Myanmar court charged today two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, under the Official Secrets Act, the news agency reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned the criminal charges and called on authorities to drop the landmark case, which has major press freedom implications.

Messages of support are left on a poster depicting detained Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, at a press freedom event in Yangon, Myanmar, on May 1. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

People need to know why our journalists were arrested in Myanmar, Reuters tells CPJ

May 10, 2018 12:14 PM EDT

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have spent nearly five months in detention in Myanmar, on charges of violating a colonial-era Official Secrets Act. At the time of their arrest in Yangon on December 12, the reporters were investigating a mass killing of Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar troops that took…

Detained Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone are transported in a police vehicle after a court hearing in Yangon, Myanmar on April 20, 2018 . (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Prosecution witness: Myanmar police planned ‘trap’ for Reuters reporter

April 20, 2018 11:12 AM EDT

New York, April 20, 2018–A prosecution witness in the case against two imprisoned Reuters journalists in Myanmar today testified that a police chief ordered officers to trap one of the reporters by handing him “secret documents” during a meeting, according to Reuters and other news reports.

A Myanmar border guard stands next to fencing near Maungdaw, Rakhine state, where structures to process Rohingya refugees are being built. Local and international journalists face challenges reporting on the crisis and other politically sensitive issues. (AFP/Cape Diamond)

Threats, arrests, and access denied as Myanmar backtracks on press freedom

February 12, 2018 2:07 PM EST

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Esther Htusan is no longer safe to report from her home country, Myanmar. The Associated Press reporter fled the country late last year after being threatened for her critical reporting on various topics that authorities deem sensitive, from the ethnic Rohingya refugee exodus, the military’s controversial counterinsurgency operations in Rakhine State, to…

Reuters journalists Wa Lone, left, and Kyaw Soe Oo, face up to 14 years in prison for their reporting in Myanmar. (Reuters/Antoni Slodkowski)

Myanmar charges two Reuters reporters under Official Secrets Act

January 10, 2018 7:23 AM EST

Bangkok, January 10, 2018–Prosecutors in Myanmar today charged two Reuters reporters with violating the Official Secrets Act, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned the criminal indictment and called on the authorities to drop the charges and release the reporters.