June 24th, 2009
Human Rights Watch has called for the district police in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia to free the 14 Burmese asylum seekers arrested on 19 June at a peaceful celebration of the 64th birthday of the Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, censorship, malaysia, protest,
June 22nd, 2009
A Burmese court has sentenced Chit Pe and Aung Saw Wei, supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to 18 months in prison. The two were convicted of insulting religion after leading prayers at a pagoda for Suu Kyi and other activists to be freed. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Aung Saw Wei, Burma, Chit Pe,
June 19th, 2009
Activists across the world are marking the 64th birthday of Burma’s detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, with vigils and protests. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, censorship, free speech, protests,
June 2nd, 2009
Index on Censorship and iceandfire present Seven Years With Hard Labour, a performance composed of five accounts from former and current political prisoners in Burma. Through their engaging, divergent and often humorous stories a damning picture of a ruthless military regime is painted. The world premiere takes place at Global Forum on Freedom of Expression, 3 June 8.30pm at Litteraturhuset, Wergenlandsveien, 29, 0167 Oslo. Scripted by Christine Bacon and Sara Masters (iceandfire) Commissioned and co-produced by Index on Censorship
June 2nd, 2009
Burmese authorities have raided the office of the True News Weekly Journal (Thitsa) after an increase in sales amongst the supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi waiting outside Insein prison on 25 May, the first day Suu Kyi was present at the trial. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Insein prison, junta, Thitsa, True News Weekly,
May 22nd, 2009
The prosecution in the case against Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi has closed its case days earlier than expected. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma,
May 21st, 2009
In a turn-around decision by Burmese authorities, officials have barred international observers including journalists and diplomants from the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, a day after allowing them to attend. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, banned, Burma, diplomats, journalists,
May 20th, 2009
Officials in Burma have unexpectedly announced that a group of journalists - five local and five foreign - will be able to cover the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more here. Meanwhile Reporters Without Borders has reported clampdowns on internet usage in the country. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, censorship,
May 19th, 2009
A statement by Asean — a 10-nation grouping that includes Burma — expressed “grave concern” over the trial of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that as a member Burma ”has the responsibility to protect and promote human rights.” Read more hereTags: Tags: Asean, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma,
May 18th, 2009
The Burmese authorities are keeping tight control on coverage of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, reports Nem Davies
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Tags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, John Yettaw, Nem Davies, Rangoon,
May 18th, 2009
Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has gone on trial at the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon following breaking the conditions of her nineteen year house arrest. Many observers see the charges as a pretext to ensure Ms Suu Kyi is in jail during next year’s elections. Read more hereTags: Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Insein prision, Rangoon, trial,
May 14th, 2009
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to face trial on 18 May for breaching the conditions of her detention under house arrest. The charges come after American writer John Yettaw swam across Inya lake to her house uninvited and stayed there secretly for two days. Read more here
Tags: Tags: arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, John Yettaw,
February 9th, 2009
Editor Khin Maung Aye and reporter Manaw Tun of Rangoon-based weekly journal News Watch have been acquitted, after being detained for over two months in the notorious Insein Prison. (more…)Tags: Tags: Burma, censorship,
November 20th, 2008
A new crackdown on the country’s dissidents shows that Than Shwe’s junta fears the power of the Internet, writes Larry Jagan
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Tags: Tags: Burma, censorship,
November 11th, 2008
Nay Phone Latt, a pro-democracy blogger in Burma has been given a 20-year prison sentence for materials posted on his website criticising military leader Than Shwe. (more…)Tags: Tags: blogger, Burma, Nay Phone Latt,
October 21st, 2008
The October issue of monthly satirical magazine Pyaw Pyaw Shwin Shwin has been postponed after the censor board rejected a quarter of its contents. (more…)Tags: Tags: Burma, censorship,
July 11th, 2008
Imprisoned Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latte is facing the possibility of a seven-year jail sentence after new charges were brought against him on 7 July. The new charges fall under the 1950 Emergency Provision Act, which sanctions any attempt to ‘disrupt morality’ or ‘disrupt security, stability or the restoration of order’. His crime was possession of a video, banned by the military junta. He was initially arrested on 29 January, held at the interior ministry and transferred to Insein prison after one week. Read more hereJune 6th, 2008
Burma’s junta has arrested dissident comedian Zarganar and put a stop to his aid work for Cyclone Nargis victims. Rohan Jayasekera reports
The Burmese junta, criticised at home and abroad for its incompetent handling of the Cyclone Nargis disaster and for seizing emergency aid intended for its victims, has further dismayed its critics by arresting the Burmese dissident comedian Zarganar and halting his rescue works.
Zarganar, who put his considerable name behind an independent aid campaign after the disaster, was arrested on 4 June, according to reports by the authoritative Burmese news website the Irrawaddy.
‘The objective seems to be to silence one of the best-known critics of the regime,’ said Index on Censorship chief executive Henderson Mullin. ‘The junta has not only silenced him, they have put a stop to one of the few actions that have been able to turn words of sympathy into life-saving action on the ground.’
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Tags: Tags: Add new tag, Burma,
April 24th, 2008
Last Monday, Index on Censorship honoured Burma’s monks for their struggle against the ruling junta. The military regime is now cracking down on dissent as it pushes through a new constitution, writes David Jardine
Burma’s brutal ruling military junta will stage a national referendum on 10 May to rubber stamp a Potemkin constitution that will give the armed forces a guaranteed 25 per cent of seats in the national assembly.
The crucial home affairs ministry will remain in the hands of the junta, thus securing for it permanent control of the media.
The junta, led by General Than Shwe, is boastfully confident that it will secure the Yes vote that the all-out propaganda campaign of the state-controlled media is demanding. Anyone campaigning for a No vote faces arrest and almost certainly a long term of imprisonment in one or other part of the junta’s gulag, including the much hated Insein prison in Rangoon.
Tags: Tags: Burma, freedom of expression awards,
February 19th, 2008
November 5th, 2007
Recently returned from Rangoon, Fergal Keane reflects on how new and old media worked together, allowing brave dissidents to break the Burmese junta’s censorship
This is the story of how new and old media combined to beat the censors in Burma, a narrative of how cyberspace, along with one of the BBC’s most venerable outlets and some old fashioned undercover work challenged a repressive regime’s attempts to destroy independent journalism. Since then there has been a crackdown and the “bamboo curtain” has been lowered once again. But not for long I believe.
Tags: Tags: BBC, Burma, citizen journalism, dissidents, Rangoon,
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