October 23-29, 2014

Journalist is shot dead by Burmese military

Private media

Asian Correspondent, October 24th 2014 –‘Karen rebel’ journalist shot dead by Burmese military

• Burma’s press council has announced that the army shot dead a freelance journalist.
• The journalist was covering clashes between ethnic rebels and government troops along the country’s border and was subsequently detained by the military.
• “The military alleged that an interrogation revealed that the freelancer was an information officer with a captain rank from an ethnic armed Karen group”
• The journalist, Aung Naing, was arrested on September 30th in Mon state and he was shot dead on October 4th while he was reaching for a soldier’s weapon in an attempt to escape. 
• This information has only now been released, and it is still unclear why this was kept quiet until now.

Burma Times, October 29th 2014 –  “Burma is still a deadly place for journalists”

• The journalist, Aung Naing, was shot dead by soldier on October 4th, but this information was only released to the public three weeks after the fact.
• “Aung Naing, who was married and had a daughter, had been covering clashes between Burmese troops and ethnic rebels when he was detained by soldiers, supposedly on 30 September in southern Mon state.” 
• “ When he failed to return home, his wife raised the alarm and held a press conference in Rangoon.”
• The military was forced to issue its statement, and only then did they say that he was shot after he tried to grab a soldier’s gun and run away.
• The soldiers also said that the journalist’s body had been buried in a village outside the town of Kyaikmayaw.
• “The killing of Aung Naing has sparked outcry among journalists and activists, inside Burma and across the region. Press-freedom groups have called for a prompt investigation into the killing of the reporter, who worked for various Burmese publications including The Voice, Eleven Media and The Yangon Times.”
• Many attribute the military’s actions (taking three weeks to announce his death and burying the body themselves) as a possible cover-up of what may have actually occurred.
• A Burmese journalist speaking to Burma Times said, “Two years ago, the government was not oppressing journalists like this. They were waiting to see what journalists would report on,” the reporter said. “Since the beginning of last year, journalists have been investigating more difficult things.”
• The military still has not explained why it took them three weeks to reveal that Aung Naing had been killed and has still not offered any proof of their claim that he was a member of a rebel group.
• Aung Naing’s wife said, “If he is dead, I want to get his body back,” she said. “I could not accept that he has died. I will continue fighting for justice. I don’t want any wives or daughters to suffer like we have suffered.” 

Rohingya Muslims forced to flee Myanmar

Private media

Burma Times, October 24th 2014 – “Mass exodus of Muslims from Myanmar following arrests”

• A significant number of Muslim Rohingya have been leaving Myanmar in boats and are heading towards Thailand and Malaysia. 
• This has come about after a campaign of arrests by the government.
• The extreme emigration of Rohingya is “believed to be the largest since violence erupted between the Rohingya minority and Buddhists in western Myanmar two years ago”.
• “In one week we have seen 8,000 Rohingya leaving northern Rakhine state — the amount of people who left the region for the whole of 2013,” Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, told Anadolu Agency. 
• There have been numerous arrests of Rohingya community and religious leaders by local authorities and this has caused a scare and “provoked panic” which can explain part of the surge in emigration from Myanmar.
• “Since 2012, 200 people — mostly Rohingya — have been killed and 140,000 made homeless. Tens of thousands of Muslims have paid large amounts of money to smugglers to flee on cramped boats in the hope of finding work in Thailand, Malaysia or Australia.”
• Unfortunately, reports have come out that some of the fleeing Rohingya can fall prey to human traffickers and corrupt local officials. 
• The Rohingya thus face dire consequences when they remain in Myanmar. Furthermore, when they see their only option as escaping, they may still find themselves in dire situations when they flee. 

Asian Correspondent, October 25th 2014 –  “Expert: 8,000 more Rohingya flee Burma”

• An expert on Rohingya Muslims has said that an increasing sense of tension and hostility in western Burma has resulted in the exodus of at least “8,000 members of the Rohingya minority fleeing by boats in less than two weeks”.
• Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, says “an average of 900 people per day have been piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine sate since October 15th” 
• Burma has 1.3 million Rohingya that have been citizenship and thus have no real political, social, or cultural rights and many face constant persecution.
• Some of this persecution includes, “attacks by Buddhist mobs that have lefts hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps”

* No State Owned Media article or news on this story.

Journalists arrested for causing “state alarm” have had their appeal rejected 

State-owned media

Myanmar Times, 28th October 2014 – “Bi Mon Te Nay appeal rejected”

• Five staffers from the Bi Mon Te Nay weekly journal were arrested earlier in October.
• Their appeal against their 2-year sentence was rejected on October 27th .
• U Kyaw Win, the group’s lawyer, said that ““Our appeal was read out along with the text of the verdict and the court refused to accept [the appeal]”
• He also added that, “that no reason was given for rejecting the appeal.” 

Private media

The Irrawaddy, 28th October 2014 – “Rangoon courts reject Bi Mon Te Nay appeal”

• The appeal by three journalists and two owners of the now-defunct Bi Mon Te Nay journal was rejected on October 27th.
• The group’s lawyer, U Kyaw Win, said that: ““I appeal to the court because my clients received the maximum punishment. The reporter was writing news, and there is a new law that has been approved by the president to address disputes about the media,” 
• Kyaw Win also explained that the charges levied against his clients were inappropriate and resulted in a punishment that is disproportionate to the offense.” 
• The lawyer says that the judge rejected the appeal within a day, and now an appeal can be made to the Supreme Court.
• However, if the Supreme Court also rejects the appeal, this could mean more time for each of those convicted.
• “Minister of Information, Ye Htut, met with media representatives on Oct. 21, when he assured them that he would discuss the case with President Thein Sein. Members of the Myanmar Journalist Network, a Rangoon-based journalists’ support group, urged the minister to facilitate presidential intervention in the case.” 

EU stands by its decision to submit a resolution on Myanmar’s human rights record 

State-owned media

Myanmar Times, 24th October 2014 – “EU stands by UN resolution”

• The EU refuses to back away from submitting a resolution on Myanmar’s human rights records, despite President U Thein Sein saying that it is not necessary.
• On October 17th, in Milan, President U Thein Sein made his appeal for the EU to halt their submission of their record as he said that “Myanmar was “taking measures to sign human rights conventions, trade union conventions and conventions on women and children”.
• Despite this public plea, the EU embassy in Yangon made the announcement that they would carry on as planned with the resolution.
• Usually the resolution comes out in November and is approved by December.
• “President U Thein Sein’s comments came just days before the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, was due to formally submit her first country report to the UN General Assembly.”
• Critics have said that the President’s call for halting the submission of the reports is a “diplomatic offensive” policy whereby it is merely trying to cover up what may have been going on rather than ending human rights abuses.

*No privately owned media news or article on this story.