Burma: Junta Targets Press Freedom
The junta's crackdown on Burma's independent media intensified last week with the arrest of two Rangoon-based
journalists. Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung of the Myanmar Nation were arrested during a raid by police and Military
Intelligence on the newspaper's offices. The two journalists were taken to the headquarters of the Interior Ministry,
where they are currently being held without charge.
The military's censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, has since instructed the publisher to
cease production of the weekly journal. Items confiscated from the newspaper included a copy of UN Special Rapporteur
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro's report on Burma.
Thet Zin, the editor of the Myanmar Nation, is a well known critic of the ruling generals. He was arrested in 1988 for
participating in the student led pro-democracy protests at Rangoon University. During the 1990s he was periodically
detained and interrogated by junta officials.
Despite the junta's best efforts to restrict a free press in Burma, a courageous new generation of citizen reporters and
bloggers continues to challenge press censorship via the internet.
ENDS