BANGKOK: A court in Myanmar sentenced a photojournalist for a news agency to 20 years in prison with hard labor for his coverage of a deadly May cyclone’s aftermath, the media organization said Wednesday.
The sentence given Sai Zaw Thaike, a photographer for the independent online news service Myanmar Now, appeared to be the most severe for any journalist detained since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said in April that Myanmar is the world’s second- biggest jailer of journalists, behind only China. The country ranks near the bottom of the group’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index, placing 176th out of 180 countries.
Myanmar Now, which operates underground, reported that a military tribunal tried, convicted and sentenced Sai Zaw Thaike, 40, during the first court hearing since he was detained in the western state of Rakhine.
The proceedings took place inside Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, where the photographer was jailed after his arrest. The news agency said Sai Zaw Thaike was allowed no family visits and denied legal representation.
“His sentencing is yet another indication that freedom of the press has been completely quashed under the military junta’s rule, and shows the hefty price independent journalists in Myanmar must pay for their professional work,” the news site quoted Myanmar Now Editor-in-Chief Swe Win as saying.
The news outlet said Sai Zaw Thaike was arrested on May 23 in Rakhine’s capital of Sittwe while recording the damage caused by Cyclone Mocha, the country’s most destructive storm in at least a decade. Mocha made landfall near Sittwe just over a week before his arrest and caused widespread flash floods and power outages.
The storm killed at least 148 people in Rakhine state, many of them members of the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority living in internal displacement camps, and damaged more than 186,000 buildings.
The news service said he was initially indicted on several charges, including under a statute that falls under the general heading of treason but is sometimes referred to as sedition. Other charges included incitement for allegedly causing fear, spreading false news and agitating against a government employee or the military, which carries a maximum prison term of three years.
He also was charged with online defamation, which is punishable by three years’ imprisonment, and with violating a Natural Disaster Management law for allegedly spreading false information about a disaster with the intention of causing public panic, which carries a potential prison term of up to one year.
Myanmar Now said it did not know which charges Wednesday’s conviction covered. Details of political trials are generally closely held by the authorities, and Myanmar Now’s report could not be independently confirmed.
The conviction of Sai Zaw Thaike is the latest assault on press freedom and journalists by the country’s military-installed government, which has cracked down heavily on independent media.
At least 13 media outlets, including Myanmar Now, have had their media licenses revoked and at least 156 journalists were arrested, about 50 of whom remain detained, according to the local monitoring group Detained Journalists Information. Nearly half of those still in custody have been convicted and sentenced.
At least four media workers have been killed and others were tortured while in detention.
Some of the media outlets ordered closed have continued operating underground without a license, publishing online as their staff members carry on reporting while trying to avoid arrest. Others operate from exile.
The military raided Myanmar Now’s office in Yangon a month after the 2021 takeover and some staff members, including chief editor Swe Win, fled criminal charges and went into hiding as authorities had their homes sealed.
Sai Zaw Thaike was the second journalist from Myanmar Now to be arrested. Video journalist Kay Zon Nway was detained while covering an anti-coup protest in Yangon in late February 2021 and released four months later under a broad amnesty.
“We will not waver in our commitment to continue providing news and information to the people of Myanmar, despite the immense challenges we are facing,” Swe Win said from exile.
Myanmar photojournalist gets 20-year sentence over reports on cyclone’s aftermath, news site says
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Myanmar photojournalist gets 20-year sentence over reports on cyclone’s aftermath, news site says
- Online news site Myanmar Now says Sai Zaw Thaike was arrested on May 23 in Rakhine region while recording the damage caused by Cyclone Mocha, which killed 148 people
- He was reportedly slapped with various charges including spreading false information about a disaster with the intention of causing public panic and online defamation
Tunisia remands journalists arrested over critical comments
- Broadcaster Borhen Bssais and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi were arrested Saturday under a decree criminalizing ‘spreading false information’ among other charges, spokesman Mohamed Zitouna said
TUNIS: A Tunisian court on Wednesday ordered two journalists to be held in remand until the completion of investigations into critical comments, a court spokesman said.
Broadcaster Borhen Bssais and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi were arrested Saturday under a decree criminalizing “spreading false information” among other charges, spokesman Mohamed Zitouna said.
Zeghidi is being investigated over social media statements last February and a post in support of Mohamed Boughalleb, another journalist and critic of President Kais Saied who has been detained separately.
Bssais was arrested on accusations of “having harmed President Kais Saied through radio broadcasts and statements” online between 2019 and 2022, according to his lawyer Nizar Ayed.
Their trial is set to begin on May 22, according to their lawyers.
Both media figures are prosecuted under a law ratified by Saied in September 2022.
The law punishes people with up to five years in prison for the use of social media to “produce, spread (or) disseminate ... false news” and “slander others, tarnish their reputation, financially or morally harm them.”
Journalists and opposition figures have said it has been used to stifle dissent.
Since the decree came into force, more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures have been prosecuted under it, according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.
The same night Bssais and Zeghidi were taken into police custody, masked police raided the Tunisian bar association and arrested lawyer Sonia Dahmani, also on the same law.
On Monday, another lawyer was forcibly arrested at the association’s headquarters.
The president of the bar, Hatem Meziou, on Tuesday called for an end to “the abuse of power” and “violence” targeting the lawyers.
The European Union also expressed concern over a string of arrests of civil society figures in Tunisia — the latest sign of a tightening clampdown on freedoms under Saied.
Nongovernmental organizations have decried a rollback of freedoms in Tunisia since Saied began ruling by decree after a sweeping power grab in 2021.
‘Blockout’ trend targets celebrities over Gaza silence
- Selena Gomez, Zendaya and Kim Kardashian are among the celebrities who have lost hundreds of thousands of followers
- Boycott campaign gained traction following Met Gala event last week in New York
LONDON: A new trend threatening to boycott celebrities over their refusal to speak out about the Gaza conflict is gaining momentum on social media.
Known as “Blockout 2024,” the movement has surged in popularity following the Met Gala last week.
As part of a solidarity campaign, social media users are calling for the blocking of accounts of celebrities who have remained silent on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
High-profile figures such as Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Drake are among the hundreds of celebrities facing this “digital guillotine.”
A full list is circulating on social media, leading to a significant loss of followers on Instagram and other platforms.
Actress and singer Selena Gomez reportedly lost 1 million followers on Instagram and 100,000 on X, according to US-based social media analytics site Sonic Blue.
Fellow actress and singer Zendaya, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and her sister Kylie Jenner have also seen hundreds of thousands of followers drop.
Pro-Palestinian activists have been pressuring celebrities for months to show more support for Gaza civilians. This growing discontent reached a tipping point last week when the Met Gala’s glitz and glamour coincided with Israel’s announcement of a military offensive in Rafah.
@ladyfromtheoutside #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo #digitine #digitalguillotine #haleyybaylee ♬ original sound - Meagan
The movement was sparked by a TikTok video from influencer Haley Kalil at the Met Gala on May 7, where she lip-synced to the phrase “Let them eat cake.”
This phrase, attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, drew parallels to the French Revolution, symbolizing indifference to the suffering of the impoverished.
“It’s time for the people to conduct what I want to call a ‘digital guillotine.’ A ‘digitine,’ if you will,” said TikTok creator @ladyfromtheoutside, who kicked off the movement with her viral video.
“It’s time to block all the celebrities, influencers and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need. We gave them their platforms. It’s time to take it back, take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money.”
According to Gaza authorities, at least 35,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the seven-month war, which has been widely condemned as failing to comply with international humanitarian law.
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BBC investigation leads to arrest of one of world’s most notorious people smugglers
- Barzan Majeed, nicknamed ‘Scorpion,’ is caught in Iraqi Kurdistan days after release of BBC podcast series by journalists who tracked him down and interviewed him
- Senior local official confirms officials used information from the broadcaster’s investigation to help find fugitive believed to have helped smuggle thousands of people to UK
DUBAI: Kurdish security forces arrested Barzan Majeed, described as one of the world’s most notorious people smugglers, in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday morning.
Nicknamed “Scorpion,” the fugitive is believed to have been involved in smuggling an estimated 10,000 people across the English Channel to the UK. He was arrested days after the release of a BBC podcast series in which investigative journalists tracked him down to the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq and interviewed him there.
During the interview, Majeed said he had lost count of the number of people he helped to smuggle, adding: “Maybe a thousand, maybe 10,000. I don’t know, I didn’t count.”
He admitted that between 2016 and 2019 he was one of two people who helped run a people-smuggling operation in Belgium and France but denied he was the mastermind of the operation.
“A couple of people, when they get arrested, they say, ‘We’re working for him’ — they want to get less (of a) sentence,” he said.
Originally from Iraq, Majeed moved to the city of Nottingham, in England, in 2013 but was deported two years later. He had been on the run since failing to appear at a court in Belgium for a sentencing hearing in November 2022.
The UK’s National Crime Agency issued a warrant for his arrest that same year. The agency, which confirmed his arrest, said: “We are grateful to the BBC for highlighting his case and remain determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved in smuggling people to the UK, wherever they operate.”
A senior member of the Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed its officials had used information from the BBC investigation to locate and arrest Majeed.
Each year, thousands of people flee Iraq, including its Kurdistan Region, in the hope of finding a better life in the UK or other parts of Europe. In many cases, they pay people smugglers to transport them, but the routes and methods used by the smugglers are often dangerous and the migrants face harsh weather and potentially deadly travel conditions.
Germany deported 222 Iraqi citizens in the first three months of this year as part of an alleged agreement between Berlin and Baghdad to deport migrants who do not qualify to remain in Germany, media organization Rudaw, which is based in Iraqi Kurdistan, reported this week.
Saudi radio station MBC FM marks 30 years of broadcasting with special events
- Bosses say the celebrations honor the pioneering station’s enduring contributions to the media landscape in the Kingdom
- ‘MBC FM has captured the ears and hearts of millions of Saudis over 3 decades’ and ‘continues to lead the radio airwaves with the love and loyalty of listeners,’ says group’s chairperson
LONDON: As pioneering Saudi radio station MBC FM celebrates three decades of broadcasting in the Kingdom, it is marking the milestone with a series of events and initiatives at the MBC Group headquarters in Riyadh under the theme “30 and Still Going Strong.”
The celebrations, which began on May 12, honor the station’s enduring contributions to Saudi Arabia’s media landscape, bosses said. They include competitions, entertainment events and exclusive interviews with renowned artists and stars from across the Gulf region and the wider Arab world.
“Just as MBC FM has captured the ears and hearts of millions of Saudis over three decades, being the first commercial FM radio station in the Kingdom, the radio and music sector at MBC Group today continues to lead the radio airwaves with the love and loyalty of listeners,” said Walid Al-Ibrahim, the chairperson of MBC Group.
In addition to providing entertainment for listeners, the station has served as a launchpad for emerging talent, he added, as he highlighted its influence on local culture.
Ziad Hamza, general manager of the radio and music Sector at MBC Group, said the station remains committed to its ongoing evolution while also honoring its strong history and legacy. In particular he highlighted investments in infrastructure, diversity of content and audience engagement as the station adapted to changing tastes and preferences among listeners.
“We have worked on developing the infrastructure and creating a comprehensive modern environment for the radio sector … by investing in Saudi youth talents, including radio presenters, producers, programmers and technicians,” said Hamza.
“We have also launched the MoodMBC application, which includes MBC FM, Panorama FM and MBC Podcast, in addition to enhanced options for direct communication, as well as rich and diverse content catering to poetry lovers, music session enthusiasts, and current affairs followers.
“Our goal has always been to strike a balance between the tastes of listeners and the needs of advertisers, facilitating our clients’ access to various target audience segments around the clock.”
Gulf news agencies discuss fake news, joint media strategy
- Meeting discussed plans for a collaborative media strategy for 2023-30
RIYADH: The threat of fake news and a program for personnel exchanges were among the topics discussed at the 23rd meeting of the heads of the news agencies of Gulf Cooperation Council countries on Monday.
The talks, held virtually, were chaired by Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Rumaihi, director-general of the Qatar News Agency, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The meeting also discussed the decisions made during the 26th gathering of GCC Ministers of Media, most notably the plans for a collaborative media strategy for 2023-30.
The delegates stressed the need for more training courses and workshops and looked into a report about misleading and false news reports. The meeting also outlined plans for an upcoming photography exhibition.
The attendees approved a program for exchange visits between editors, photographers and technicians across the region, and expressed their support for the Bahrain News Agency’s coverage of the 33rd Arab Summit on Thursday.
