Posts Tagged ‘Burma’
June 14th, 2012
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
arrived in Geneva today for the start of a 17-day tour of Europe, visiting the continent for the first time in 24 years. The politician, who returned to the southeast Asian country in 1988 and has led its pro-democracy movement, was restricted from leaving Burma for her speaking out against the country’s brutal military regime. During her trip, Suu Kyi will
accept the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991, but could not collect at the time because of fears of being prevented from re-entering Burma. The activist was this year elected to the country’s Parliament.
June 1st, 2012
Burma’s heavy censorship rules are
set to be lifted later this month, it has been announced. Tint Swe, head of the Press Scrutinisation and Registration Department (PSRD) has said that the iron grip currently experienced by the Burmese press will be lifted in a significant reform. Until recently, everything from newspapers to fairy tales were subject to scrutiny from the country’s censors. Tint Swe has said “it is the right time” and added “When we have parliament and government working on democratic process, how can censorship work at the same time?”
April 4th, 2012
The election of Aung San Suu Kyi was another step in Burma’s advance to democracy. But journalists are aware that the small gains made by the media could be taken back. Tom Fawthrop reports
(more…)
March 15th, 2012
Burma’s mining ministry have said they will
file a lawsuit against a news journal following allegations of corruption. An article in weekly publication The Voice said that the Auditor-General’s Office had discovered fraud in the mining, information, agriculture and industry ministries. It is believed that the article was published without approval from the country’s censors. The mining ministry’s director general Win Htein denied the accusations, and said the report had harmed the ministry’s dignity.
March 12th, 2012
Burma’s opposition leader has
been banned from criticising previous governments in TV and radio election campaigns. Aung San Suu Kyi has said that government censors are not allowing her party to criticise previous military-run governments when it promotes its policies on state-run radio and television ahead of next month’s elections. Suu Kyi’s statement will be broadcast on 14 and 22 March, and will be the first time the opposition leader has been given the opportunity to use the state media to promote her party.
February 20th, 2012
A
Burmese monk jailed for his involvement in 2007 protests faces
further charges for breaking both the law and the Buddhist monks’ code of conduct.
Shin Gambira, who was released from prison in a January amnesty, has been accused of rejoining the religious order without requesting authorisation, of being in the government sealed Magin Monastery and breaking the locks of two other monasteries. According to newspapers reports, Shin Gambira had said in a statement that he did not need permission to rejoin the order of monks so he would not ask for it.
Gambira was awarded an Index on Censorship Free Expression Award in 2008.
January 25th, 2012
New restrictions are being imposed on the
Burmese media, despite earlier calls from the country’s censor chief to ease restrictions. Ahead of April’s by-elections, Tint Swe, director of the Burmese Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, warned newspaper editors that “action will be taken” against publications which do not adhere to guidelines from the censorship board.
In October, Swe made calls for
greater media freedom and the abolition of censorship.
January 16th, 2012
A number of journalists and bloggers have been
released from prison under amnesty in
Burma. Hla Hla Win, Ngwe Soe Lin, Win Maw, Sithu Zeya from exile radio and TV station Democratic Voice of Burma, freelance journalists Thant Zin Aung and Zaw Thet Htwe and the blogger Nay Phone Latt have all been released. Throughout their imprisonment, DVB ran the “
Free Burma VJ” campaign, calling for the release of the journalists. Around 600 other prisoners were
also freed in the amnesty on Friday. The move is the latest in a series of increasingly radical reforms over recent months.
