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Myanmar journalists speak out in new documentary film

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released a 19-minute short film called Myanmar: The Merciless Crackdown on Friday, featuring Myanmar journalists sharing their harrowing stories about covering the military coup four years ago, on Feb. 1, 2021.

“These journalists display extraordinary courage, continuing to defend the right to inform in the face of brutal and inhumane repression,” said Cédric Alviani, the RSF Asia-Pacific bureau director. 

Alvani called on the international community to apply pressure on the regime in Naypyidaw, which seized power after the 2021 coup, to release all detained journalists. 

In the RSF film, the journalists recount their stories about how they covered peaceful anti-coup protests in February and March 2021, which were violently suppressed by the military. One discusses his 15-days held in regime detention.

Since the 2021 coup, the regime has revoked the publishing license of 15 media outlets, including DVB. Seven journalists have been killed and at least 150 have been jailed, with 61 still in detention, according to RSF.

The Independent Press Council Myanmar (IPCM) has documented that over 200 journalists have been arrested by the regime, since the 2021 coup, and that 43 journalists are still being held in detention with 11 of them serving long-term prison sentences, including life imprisonment.

But the IPCM has acknowledged it lacks detailed information about journalists behind bars, given the regime’s tight security in prisons.

This crackdown on the media and press freedom has driven many journalists into exile, mostly to Thailand, while others now operate covertly inside the country. 

Myanmar is ranked 171 out of 180 countries near the bottom of the RSF 2024 World Press Freedom Index. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states that Myanmar is one of the world’s largest jailers of journalists, second only to China.

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