Mizzima News

The Ministry of Information is going ahead with its plan to sue the Eleven Media Group over stories alleging impropriety of Burmese government officials involving the purchase of a printing press.

Former political prisoner Nay Phone Latt speaks of his passion for information and communications technology, concerns about hate speech in Burma and his efforts to create a more tolerant society.

In this interview, Zarganar, Burma’s most popular comedian, speaks about his campaign to secure the release of remaining political prisoners, as well as his unlikely friendship with a murderer known as Buffalo, who helped him find the path to forgiveness.

U Sein Than, who was charged in May 2014 as the leader of a protest camp, was sentenced to four months imprisonment with hard labour for what the Burmese authorities determined was an unauthorised protest held before his original May 21 court hearing.

A radio station in a Thai border town that provided news and information for Burmese migrants has ceased broadcasting because of a decision by Thailand’s ruling junta to shut down independent community broadcasters.

Police opened cases against about 50 reporters after they held a sit-down protest against the “Unity” journal sentences outside the Myanmar Peace Center while President U Thein Sein was attending a cultural event. The reporters, who had been denied entry to the event, wore black T-shirts bearing the slogan ‘Stop oppression of the press’ and some had symbolically covered the mouths in black tape.

Journalists and media and human rights organisations in Burma and abroad have reacted with shock to the 10 years’ jail with hard labour sentences handed down in the “Unity journal” case over a defence facility report.

The chief executive officer and four journalists from “Unity Journal” have been sentenced to 10 years in jail with hard labour over a report earlier this year that a military-owned factory was producing chemical weapons.