(Mizzima/IFEX) – The following is a report from Mizzima News, an interim member of IFEX: Democracy activist sues 123 editors, publishers for defamation A democracy activist in Rangoon has filed a defamation suit against 123 editors, editors-in-chief and publishers from 30 weekly newspapers in military-ruled Burma for publishing a report that cast aspersions on her, […]
(Mizzima/IFEX) – The following is a report from Mizzima News, an interim member of IFEX:
Democracy activist sues 123 editors, publishers for defamation
A democracy activist in Rangoon has filed a defamation suit against 123 editors, editors-in-chief and publishers from 30 weekly newspapers in military-ruled Burma for publishing a report that cast aspersions on her, reports Mizzima News on 29 January 2007.
Naw Ohn Hla, 45, a former political prisoner and supporter of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said the report, written by a journalist called Yan Yan, linked to her a widely known, but now deceased, procurer of prostitutes who lived in her area.
“It greatly affects a woman’s dignity,” Naw told Mizzima News, the online daily and SEAPA partner based in New Delhi.
The court will hear the case on 13 February 2007.
Naw is among a group of citizens who pray weekly for Suu Kyi to be released. In recent weeks, members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association have been harassing the group during its prayer meetings at the historic Shwedagon pagoda.
Said one of the editors being sued, “We were asked to publish such articles in our newspapers by the Ministry of Information.”
The Ministry of Information has been allegedly pressuring private periodicals to publish opinion pieces that denounce the opposition and support the military junta. The junta has claimed in the past that the commentaries do not represent the government’s position.
However, an editor of a Rangoon-based weekly journal, speaking on condition of anonymity, told “The Irrawaddy”, “We have no power to reject (such) articles provided by the government. When we appear (in) court, we will say the truth.”
Media observers say the lawsuit and such defamatory articles are products of the junta government’s latest strategy to pit media, including privately owned ones, against pro-democracy leaders.
On 18 January, state media accused Suu Kyi of evading taxes by spending overseas money from the 1991 Nobel Peace prize and other prizes awarded to her.
The junta regularly calls Suu Kyi “a threat to national unity” and says she and her National League for Democracy party are trying to undermine the ruling government by collaborating with foreign powers.
The junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi. It refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide election victory in 1990 and has periodically kept her on house arrest or in prison for a total of 11 years.
