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Burmese junta imposes long sentence on journalist
Irrawaddy - January 29, 2010
Arkar Moe – The Rangoon Special Court in Insein prison sentenced reporter Ngwe Soe Lin to 13-years imprisonment on Wednesday for attempting to smuggle information to exiled media, according to prominent Rangoon lawyer Aung Thein.
Ngwe Soe Lin was arrested in a Rangoon internet cafi on June 26th last year and accused of working for the Norway-based opposition radio station Democratic Voice of Burma.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, Aung Thein said, "Ngwe Soe Lin was sentenced to 13-years imprisonment under section 33(a) of the Electronic Act and section 13(1) of the Immigration Emergency Provisions Act."
Aung Thein said "The Burmese authorities arrested him on June 26 last year on suspicion of working for exiled media. But, there is no confirmed evidence."
Observers say The Burmese military junta has cracked down on journalists who are suspected of working for exiled media since the saffron movement led by Buddhist monks shook the regime in September 2007.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, Tate Naing, the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma said, "There are about 41 people in jail charged with offenses regarding media and journalism."
Though the Burmese military junta has said that fair and credible elections will be held in Burma on October 2010, "The Burmese military regime has put heavy pressure on the press by imposing long prison sentences on journalists who dare to report on its 2010 election," Tate Naing said.
In a separate case, freelance video reporter Hla Hla Win was sentenced in December 2009 to two jail terms amounting to 27 years for similar offences.
The imposition of draconian sentences on Hla Hla Win and other journalists puts the junta's assertion that the election will be fair and credible into serious doubt and underscores the challenges and risks faced by journalists in Burma.
Aung Thein said it showed that the Burmese regime has little tolerance for freelance journalists and a free media.
"To be an open society, there must be freedom of the press," Aung Thein said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) on December 2009 released a series of reports on journalists imprisoned around the world. Burma, which has recently jailed nine journalists, was ranked in the five worst nations for imprisoning journalists, along with Iran, China, Cuba and Eritrea.
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