Deadly Year For Myanmar Journalists Since Military Coup; 4 Killed (X image @CrphMyanmar)
For the media operating in Myanmar, 2024 is the deadliest since the coup. Three deaths were recorded last month alone. The military is accused of imposing a “terror campaign” on the press. Four journalists were killed this year.
On August 21st, Htet Myat Thu (28), and Win Htut Oo (26), both freelance journalists, were shot dead during a raid on their home by the military junta. On August 19th, 50-year-old Pe Maung Sein, an award-winning documentary film-maker, died at a private hospital in Yangon just three days after he had been released from a junta prison.
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Hours of beating from the interrogation centre had left him with five broken ribs and four prolapsed discs, which were untreated for almost two years in jail, where he also endured periods without adequate food. His wife says he was left paralysed, and with such severe injuries he was unable to drink, eat or even talk, reported The Guardian.
2024 was the deadliest for the journalist since military came into power in 2021, ousting the government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup was met by widespread opposition from the public, and an armed uprising against the junta.
Journalists faced immense danger in documenting the frequent human rights abuses by the military. While some works underground, hundreds of journalists were forced to flee into exile or fled to areas controlled by opposing armed groups.
Pe Maung Sein was arrested in May 2022 while filming in Loikaw, close to the border with Thailand. He wanted to document the conflict and plight of people forced to flee their homes, said his wife, Khin Su Naing.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said he was kept at an interrogation centre where his hands and legs were tied, and he was kicked for hours by a group of soldiers, denied food and allowed only a few sips of water. His memories of what happened next were vague as he lost consciousness, and the only thing he remembered was pain.
The journalist was moved to Loikaw military hospital in April 2024, before being moved again to Yangon, after a request from Khin Su. Despite being paralysed, his legs were chained to the hospital bed and he was watched over by armed guards. MRI results showed that he had five broken ribs and four prolapsed discs, while an endoscopic test showed he had a lump in his trachea in addition to bone tuberculosis. He was released four days before his sentence was completed and Khin Su rushed him to a private hospital, from where he died three days later.
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Htet Myat Thu, and Win Htut Oo were shot dead in their apartment. Local witnesses said that over 30 military soldiers barged the apartment before killing the journalists. The reason for the killing given by pro-junta Telegram channels was that the two men were part of the anti-junta group, Kyaikhto Revolution Force, a claim that Thiri, Win Htut Oo’s editor and independent media have contradicted.
“They [soldiers] don’t need to shoot and kill them. They could just arrest them,” Thiri said, as quoted by The Guardian.
Before the killing in August, journalist Myat Thu Tun, also known as Phoe Thihawas killed in January. He was shot dead while in military custody in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State. He was arrested in 2022. Local media reported that his body, which showed signs of torture, was found buried at a Rakhine State military camp on February 5.
