Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Ye Yint Tun and stop imprisoning members of the press for their work, said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
On March 23, a special court in the city of Pathein sentenced Ye Yint Tun to two years in prison for allegedly violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of “false news,” and Section 505(b), which criminalizes publishing or circulating information that could cause fear or alarm, according to multiple news reports.
“Journalist Ye Yint Tun’s harsh sentencing and imprisonment for merely doing his job as a reporter speaks to the cruelty of Myanmar’s military regime,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative, on Monday.
“Myanmar’s junta should be releasing, not sentencing, the dozens of journalists it wrongfully holds behind bars.”
Ye Yint Tun’s sentencing was handed down in the same week that two other reporters, Hanthar Nyein of Kamayut Media and Than Htike Aung of Mizzima, were also sentenced to two years each in prison, as CPJ reported at the time.
Another Myanmar Herald reporter, Wine Maw, is being held in pretrial detention at Yangon’s Insein Prison.