Information services in the region
Individual Documents
Description:
"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is deeply relieved to learn that, in a victory for press freedom and investigative reporting in Myanmar and throughout the world, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released from a prison in the Yangon suburb of Insein this morning.
The two reporters had spent a total of 511 days far from their families because they dared to investigate a subject that is banned in Myanmar, the genocide of the country’s Rohingya minority. Held on trumped-up evidence after being arrested in a trap set by the police in December 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were convicted last September of violating the Official Secrets Act and were given seven-year jail sentences that were confirmed twice on appeal. They were finally pardoned by President Win Myint.
“As well as the release of two individuals who should never have been in prison – Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo – this is a fundamental victory for press freedom and for RSF, which had campaigned constantly ever since their arrest,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.
“Their case is emblematic of investigative journalism’s importance for the functioning of democracies. We hail the role played by all those civil society actors who, both in Myanmar and internationally, never forgot the fate of these two journalists and kept fighting for them until this successful outcome.”..."
Source/publisher:
Reporters Without Borders
Date of publication:
2019-05-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Information services in the region
Language:
English
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Description:
"On 12 April 2017, Thailand?s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society issued what the Bangkok Post called ?a strange government directive”. It prohibited anyone from following, communicating with, or disseminating information online from three outspoken critics of the government—or risk up to 15 years in prison. The statement seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and without any explanation. Does the act of ?following” include reading these authors? posts, or actually clicking the ?follow” button on their profile? This was never clarified by the government.
The ambiguity of the Thai cyber laws prompted a local online newspaper, Prachatai, to publish information warning readers about how to avoid being charged with Thailand?s draconian Article 112, which prohibits defamation against the royal family. But the journalist responsible for the article was in turn interrogated by the Thai authorities for a possible computer crime herself. This deadly dose of opaque cyber regulations and an authoritarian political regime has made Thailand?s cyberspace one of the most restricted in Asia.
This combination, however, is growing more and more representative of the regional norm. In Southeast Asia, the liberating effects of the internet coexist in increasing tension with state anxiety about information control. Southeast Asian cyberspace is thus becoming more expansive, yet more restricted. On the one hand, the number of people who have come online for the first time has exploded: Myanmar, for example, went from 1% internet penetration in 2012 to 26% in 2017 thanks to an abundance of cheap mobile phones. Internet users across the region are increasingly spending time online to work, study, connect with friends, and participate in civic and political life..."
Aim Sinpeng
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2017-11-01
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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