Mizzima News

Civil society groups express concern over the potential for overbroad anti-extremism practices to limit free expression

Myanmar’s authorities must immediately and unconditionally release a peace activist and a young woman who have been arrested for mocking the country’s army chief on Facebook, Amnesty International said in a statement on 15 October.

Myanmar-born American writer Wendy Law-Yone spoke to Mizzima Weekly about her ambivalence towards copyright piracy and the steps she is taking to prevent it.

Burmese security police and civilians wearing red armbands attacked activists and students protesting outside Yangon City Hall and arrested eight in a surge in tension over spreading student rallies calling for education reform.

Reporters in Burma’s ethnic minority regions often endure extortion and harassment. Women journalists, who are heavily outnumbered by their male counterparts in rural areas, face additional challenges in their reporting.

Prominent Burma-watcher, journalist and author Bertil Lintner was in Yangon for a weeklong journalism workshop. The formerly blacklisted writer was interviewed by Mizzima about recent political developments and the year ahead.

Former Minister of Information U Aung Kyi resigned in late July 2014, along with Burma’s then Health Minister. The shake-up followed a major cabinet reshuffle a month earlier and sparked speculation about differences between U Aung Kyi and President U Thein Sein over media policies.

Police have arrested four activists who staged a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Burma over the shooting death of a protester at the controversial Chinese-run copper mine in Letpadaung.