Myanmar journalist Nay Naw, a senior field reporter with the independent Karen Information Center (KIC) news service, is serving a six-year sentence for criminal incitement and terrorism, charges Myanmar’s military regime has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since staging a democracy-suspending coup in 2021.
Nay Naw was arrested on March 28, 2022, by police in Myawaddy town, Kayin State, according to KIC editor-in-chief Nan Paw Gay, who communicated with CPJ via email. On June 30, 2022, police and military officials locked up his house, forcing his wife and daughter to find a new residence, Nan Paw Gay said.
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 December 30, 2022, Nay Naw was sentenced to six years in prison under Article 505(a) of the penal code, a broad provision that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news, and Section 52(b) of the Counter Terrorism Law, according the Detained Journalists Information Myanmar Facebook group’s database, which CPJ reviewed.
The charges were based on information and contacts police authorities found on his confiscated mobile telephone, Nan Paw Gay said, without elaborating.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Nay Naw’s conviction, health and treatment in detention sent in late 2023.