Myanmar: Arrest of journalist latest example of junta’s ongoing repression of peaceful expression
Update (11 July 2023): On 7 July 2023, Kyaw Min Swe was released by the military junta, over two months after he was detained on a charge of defaming the military junta after he used social media to express his condolences towards those killed in a bombing raid carried out by the junta’s airforce.
While PEN International welcomes his release, he should never have been detained. We continue our call for the release of all those who remain detained for their peaceful expression.
28 April 2023 - Last week, reports emerged that news editor and journalist, Kyaw Min Swe was detained in secret by the military junta along with three other people and charged under section 505A, which could result in three years’ imprisonment if convicted. We call for Kyaw Min Swe’s immediate and unconditional release, along with all those who have been detained by the military junta for their peaceful expression.
According to sources, on 13 April 2023, Kyaw Min Swe was arrested by the military junta shortly after he used his social media profile to signal his criticism of the junta’s bombing of a village in Sagaing region, which resulted in the deaths of at least 165 people, including children. Kyaw Min Swe reportedly changed his profile picture to a black square on his social media account as an expression of mourning for the victims of the bombing.
Following his arrest, he was held for several days in secret at an interrogation centre before he was later transferred to Sanchaung Township police station where he was formally charged on 20 April under Section 505A of Myanmar’s Penal Code, which has been frequently used by the military junta to target those seen to criticise the regime.
‘The military junta’s decision to detain Kyaw Min Swe simply for expressing his grief online towards the killing of over a hundred people is a damning example of the regime’s intent to stifle any form of expression that criticises the ongoing atrocities that they commit every day against the people of Myanmar. We call for Kyaw Min Swe’s release, along with all of those who are unjustly detained for their peaceful expression’, said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.
Kyaw Min Swe was editor-in-chief of the Aasan (The Voice) newspaper, where he had worked for over 22 years before it was forced to cease publishing following the military coup in February 2021. In 2017, he was arrested and detained for two months on defamation charges along with columnist, Kyaw Zwa Naing, after a military official complained about a satirical article titled Kyi Htaung Su Thitsar (Oath Made in a Nation of Bullets) that was published by the newspaper shortly after the military released a film commemorating Myanmar’s 72nd annual Armed Forces Day.
Kyaw Min Swe is just one of the dozens of journalists and writers who are currently detained by the military junta, with many more forced to flee the country to escape persecution. PEN International condemns the military junta’s brutal suppression of the people of Myanmar and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Kyaw Min Swe and all those wrongfully detained for their peaceful expression.
For further information please contact Ross Holder, Head of Asia/ Pacific Region at PEN International. Email: Ross.Holder@pen-international.org