The Burmese junta’s sentencing of two journalists to 3-year prison terms for taking photographs of the new administrative capital in Pyinmana is an “outrage” and further jeopardizes press freedom in the country, according to Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association.

In a joint statement released on March 30, the two affiliated media watchdog groups expressed concerns over press freedom in the military-ruled country.  “It is a disgrace to see journalists arrested and sentenced just for taking pictures on the streets of Pyinmana.”

The two journalists-Thar Cho (U Thaung), 52, a photojournalist for several Burmese publications, and Moe Thun (Kyaw Thwin), 42, a columnist for the religious magazine Dhamah-Yate, were arrested in late December while filming and taking photographs of Pyinmana from a city bus.

The journalists were each sentenced to three years in prison on March 24 at a district court in Pyinmana for violating Article 32 (A) of the Television and Video Act, which imposes legal sanctions against anyone filming commercial video without an official license.

“This new evidence of paranoia by the military regime jeopardizes the possibility of the Burmese and international press working in the new capital. We call for their release,” said Geneva-based Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association based in Oslo in their released statement.

The lawyer for the two defendants, Khin Maung Zaw, vowed that another appeal has been planned. “They should be freed because the Television and Video Act does not forbid taking pictures in authorized areas and states that such pictures may be used for private purposes.” He added that his clients were just using a small amateur camera.
RSF and BMA have expressed increasing concern over the lack of press freedom and the imprisonment of journalists in military-ruled Burma. In recent weeks, Burmese authorities have reportedly stepped up restrictions against Burmese residents who provide information to exile media groups, and many in Pyinmana have allegedly been investigated.

This latest incident is the first time journalists have been given the maximum three-year sentence under the Television and Video Act since it was adopted in July 1996, according to RSF and BMA.

The two journalists are currently being held in Yamaethin district prison north of Pyinmana.

Burma, one of the few country in the world in which the state-owned and private press has to submit to relentless advance censorship, still keeps 12 journalists in prison under harsh conditions, according to an RSF 2005 annual report.