Bangkok, October 30,
2017--Myanmar authorities charged two foreign reporters on assignment for
Turkish state broadcaster TRT, along with their interpreter and driver, of
allegedly violating import-export laws after the journalists flew a drone near
the country's parliament building, according to news reports. The Committee to
Protect Journalists today called on Myanmar authorities to immediately release
the reporting team and drop all charges against them.
According to news
reports, police on October 27 detained the two journalists Mok Choy Lin, a
Malaysian national, and Lau Hon Meng, a Singaporean citizen, along with their
interpreter, Aung Naing Soe, and driver Hla Tin. Authorities then charged the
group with violating Section 8 of Myanmar's Import Export Law, which does not
specifically refer to drones, according to the news reports.
On October 27, after the
group's detention, authorities raided the home of Aung Naing Soe, who is also a
local reporter, searched documents, and confiscated computer memory sticks, reports said.
According to
the television station Channel News Asia, the group's trial will begin after a
15-day remand period.
If found guilty of the
charges, they each face a maximum of three years in prison, the reports state.
The arrests come amid an
escalating clampdown on press freedom under de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
elected government.
"Journalists Mok
Choy Lin and Lau Hon Meng, their interpreter and driver should all be
immediately and unconditionally released," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's
senior Southeast Asia representative. "These arrests and the raid of Aung
Naing Soe's home speak to the continuing deterioration of conditions for the
press in Myanmar."
A police spokesperson
said the journalists had "illegally imported the drone," according to the BBC.
Authorities have been
holding Lin and Meng Naypyidaw's police station No. 1 in the capital Naypyitaw
and transferred the two Myanmar nationals to a prison in a town nearby, according to Reuters. Myanmar authorities have not
allowed family members to visit, the Associated Press reported.
Myanmar authorities have
detained and arrested several journalists on defamation charges filed under the
2013 Telecommunications Act's section 66d, a criminal provision that allows for
prison terms for "defamation" or "disturbances" spread over
telecom networks, according to CPJ
research.
News reports noted Lin and Meng's arrests also come
against the backdrop of bilateral tensions between Turkey and Myanmar over
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's comments in
September that Myanmar's repression of ethnic Rohingya Muslims constituted
"genocide." Myanmar has consistently denied the charges.
Source : Cpj.org
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