Myanmar journalist Thura Aung is serving a three-year sentence for terrorism, a charge Myanmar’s military junta has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since staging a democracy-suspending coup in 2021.
Thura Aung, a reporter at The People’s Voice local news outlet, was arrested during a police check of the dormitory where he lived in Taunggyi City, Shan State, on November 13, 2023, according to an editor at the news publication who communicated with CPJ via messaging app and requested anonymity for security reasons.
The journalist’s arrest came in the wake of the military’s February 1, 2021, coup and subsequent protests. The military junta’s crackdown on Myanmar’s independent media, during which it has detained and sentenced dozens of journalists, continued through 2024.
On May 20, 2024, the Taunggyi City Court sentenced Thura Aung to three years in prison under Section 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, which penalizes activities that “knowingly involve a terrorist group”, the editor told CPJ. The verdict was delivered after 19 separate court hearings, he said.
The People’s Voice, established in 2013, is an independent news outlet that covers politics, conflict, and human rights in Myanmar’s Shan State. Thura Aung has worked for the online publication since 2022 and covers politics, war, and human rights.
He was being held at Taung Lay Lone Prison in eastern Shan State and was in good health in late 2024, according to The People’s Voice editor.
The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request in late 2024 for comment on Thura Aung’s arrest, conviction, and treatment in prison.