Myanmar journalist Myat Thu Kyaw, a freelance contributor to the exile-run AAMIJ News, is serving eight and a half years in prison for incitement and terrorism, charges Myanmar’s military regime has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since staging a democracy-suspending coup in 2021.
Myat Thu Kyaw, who has worked with foreign and local media, was arrested on January 13, 2023, while covering news and taking photos on Pansodan Road in Yangon, according to AAMIJ editor Nay Myo, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app and requested to use a pseudonym for security reasons.
The journalist’s arrest came in the wake of the military’s February 1, 2021, coup and subsequent protests. Since then, the military junta has engaged in an ongoing crackdown on Myanmar’s independent media, detaining and sentencing dozens of journalists.
On July 31, 2023, a military court in Yangon’s Insein Prison convicted and sentenced the journalist to three years in prison for incitement under Article 505(a) of the penal code for publishing reports favorable to the opposition National Unity Government and anti-junta armed groups known as People’s Defense Forces, Nay Myo told CPJ.
On January 28, 2025, he was sentenced to an additional five and a half years under section 52(b) of the Counter Terrorism Law, the editor said. He also faces possible additional charges under the Official Secrets Act, which carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, Nay Myo said.