(SEAPA/IFEX) – Please note an error in the SEAPA/IFEX alert dated 26 February 2007. In paragraph three, it was mistakenly noted that one of the protesters arrested was a person by the name of Myint Shwe. SEAPA’s source has since clarified that this person was not among the protesters arrested that day. SEAPA apologises for […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – Please note an error in the SEAPA/IFEX alert dated 26 February 2007. In paragraph three, it was mistakenly noted that one of the protesters arrested was a person by the name of Myint Shwe. SEAPA’s source has since clarified that this person was not among the protesters arrested that day. SEAPA apologises for the error. A corrected version follows:
Burmese police briefly detained three local journalists covering a protest on 22 February 2007 in Rangoon, according to reports from Mizzima News, a New Delhi-based online daily run by exiled journalists.
At 3:00 p.m. (local time), about 20 demonstrators were protesting outside the Rangoon City Hall over the high inflation rate, sky-rocketing commodities prices, increasing unemployment and corruption when police arrested journalists Myat Thura from Kyodo news agency, Daw Sint Sint Aung from Nippon TV and May Thagyan Hein from “Myanmar Dhana” economic magazine. The journalists were released at 9:30 p.m. from Aung Tha Pyay Special Branch police guest house.
Two protesters, Htin Kyaw and a second individual, who were hauled in together with the journalists, remain in detention. Over the weekend, according to Mizzima’s sources, police detained another seven. Their whereabouts are unknown.
Freedoms of assembly, speech and the press are limited by law and in practice in Burma, which has been ruled by the military since 1962. Demonstrations are illegal and participants are dealt with severely, especially when they are protesting against the junta. The junta has arrested, detained, convicted and imprisoned citizens for criticising it or for expressing differing views. Security personnel also monitor and harass those suspected to harbour opposition views.
