Myanmar tries to silence news coverage of the repression and protests over the coup

A nun pleads with police not to harm protesters in the Burmese city of Myitkyina on Monday. HANDOUT / AFP

The military junta redoubles its efforts, for the moment to no avail, to silence the protesters who for more than a month have been protesting daily against the coup on February 1.

The violent repression of the security forces, which to date has left about 60 dead - two of them, representatives of the National League for Democracy, the civil government party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi-, the The military also try to control the narrative of events and have revoked the licenses of five of the most prominent independent media outlets in the country.

At least 35 journalists have been detained since the riot.

They are Myanmar Now, Mizzima, DVB, 7Day and Khit Thit.

"These communication companies no longer have permission to broadcast on television or disseminate information using any type of platform or technological medium," reported on Monday the state television channel MRTV, controlled by the military junta that took control of the country after overthrow the civilian government last month.

The five outlets that the military authorities are trying to muzzle have provided extensive and detailed coverage of the protests against the coup, often broadcasting live videos of police and military violence, as well as disseminating information through social media.

“The Burmese Army has raided my newsroom today.

Déjà vu, ”Tin Htet Paing, a journalist for Myanmar Now, one of the media that has provided the most coverage in English of the protests, posted on Twitter on Monday.

On Tuesday, the authorities returned to the newspaper's office in Yangon and arrested its co-founder, Han Thar Nyein, and its editor-in-chief, Nathan Maung, as confirmed by relatives of both.

“There were about eight trucks outside.

They went into the office and rummaged for a couple of hours.

Then they loaded the trucks with material that they confiscated and left, "a witness told Myanmar Now.

However, both this and other affected media have communicated their intention to continue reporting on the actions of the military regime.

Mizzima, for example, announces on his Facebook account that he will continue his "fight against the coup and in favor of the restoration of democracy in Myanmar by publishing and broadcasting through multimedia platforms," ​​including his own website, his Facebook accounts ( the one in Burmese has more than 16 million followers), YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

The DVB multimedia group has also stated that it will continue to broadcast via satellite television and

online

.

"We are concerned about the safety of our reporters and our staff, but now all citizens of the country have become journalists and there is no way for the military to paralyze the flow of information," DVB director Aye Chan Naing told the Associated Press (AP).

Since the coup, the military has detained at least 35 journalists, and only 19 have been released.

Among those still detained, 10 have been charged with breaking regulations, such as the public order law, which can carry sentences of up to three years in prison, according to Myanmar Now.

After the coup, the military threatened the media with consequences if they used terms such as "coup", "regime" or "junta" to refer to their government, an instruction that the majority ignored.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization considers in a statement that the revocation of the licenses is part of “a much larger attack by the military junta on press freedom and the ability of journalists to do their job without being harassed, intimidated. or arrested ”.

These attacks on the media, HRW adds, “are a clear attempt to suppress news about the widespread opposition to the military regime.

The Army is also trying to hide the cruelty with which they are responding to this opposition, and the insolent violations that are being committed against international norms and press freedom ”, he adds.

• Myanmar's junta tried to withdraw $ 1 billion from the Federal Reserve after the coup

In addition to direct attacks against the media and journalists, the military junta cuts telecommunications every night until the next morning, generating a feeling of fear and isolation among the Burmese population that evokes the worst times of the old military dictatorship (1962-2011).

Likewise, he plans a cybersecurity law highly criticized by human rights organizations, as it would allow even greater control of communications.

Faced with the attacks by the military, the technology company Facebook announced at the end of February that it was blocking the Army - known as the Tatmadaw - on its platforms with "immediate effect".

The generals have warned that the repression will increase if the challenges of the citizens continue.

"The government's patience has run out and, while we are trying to minimize the number of victims, most of the people want stability and we urge that more effective measures be taken against the riots," he announced on Monday in a statement released by the state television station MRTV.

Despite the threats, the protests continue on Tuesday in several cities of Myanmar, including Yangon, the country's largest city, where a tense day was experienced on Monday.

Curfew

Thousands of people defied the night curfew, established at 8:00 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. in mainland Spain) and took to the streets in solidarity with a group of 200 young people who had been surrounded by the forces of security in Sanchuang, a district of Yangon.

After hours of harassment and shooting into the air with firearms, with the electricity grid cut off, the youths were released.

The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also called for an investigation into the death in police custody of a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) —who won the November elections. disputed by the military— Khin Maun Latt.

The 58-year-old man was detained at gunpoint in his Yangon home on the night of March 6, and his lifeless body was handed over to his family the next day with signs of torture.

This Tuesday, this formation denounced another death of one of its own in similar circumstances: that of the party official Zaw Myat Linn, arrested last night.

"His relatives were trying to recover his body in the Military Hospital," former NLD legislator Ba Myo Thein told Reuters.