* Two-year sentence for mistakenly reporting one virus
death
A Myanmar news editor has been jailed for two years after his
agency reported a coronavirus death that turned out to be false,
his lawyer said on Friday.
The country has reported only 199 confirmed cases of coronavirus
and six deaths, although the low numbers tested mean that experts
fear the true figures are far higher.
Chief editor Zaw Ye Htet was arrested on May 13, the same day
his online news agency Dae Pyaw published an erroneous article
alleging there had been a death due to Covid-19 in eastern Karen
state.
On May 20, just one week later, he faced trial, an unusually
swift process in a country where suspects often languish for months
behind bars before being convicted.
“He was sentenced under section 505(b) to two years in jail” by
the court in Karen state, his lawyer Myint Thuzar Maw said on
Friday.
The notorious Section 505(b) is a vaguely worded law, often
thrown at journalists and activists for making any statement that
cause fear or alarm.
“We’ll appeal this unfair decision,” Zaw Ye Htet’s wife Phyu
Phyu Win told AFP by phone.
It is not clear why the trial took place so quickly.
Karen state borders Thailand and saw more than 16,000 returning
Myanmar migrant workers early April after the pandemic caused huge
job losses in Thailand and borders started to close.
The state has so far only reported two cases of coronavirus and
no deaths.
The government has warned people will be prosecuted for
spreading misinformation about the pandemic, but this is the first
known case.
It is also drafting new legislation on the control of
communicable diseases that would make it even easier to criminalise
reporters deemed to be causing public panic.
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson branded
the move a “recipe for disaster” and warned against denying people
the information they need.
Under international law, restrictions to freedom of speech must
be carefully spelled out, he added
* Two-year sentence for mistakenly reporting one virus
death
A Myanmar news editor has been jailed for two years after his
agency reported a coronavirus death that turned out to be false,
his lawyer said on Friday.
The country has reported only 199 confirmed cases of coronavirus
and six deaths, although the low numbers tested mean that experts
fear the true figures are far higher.
Chief editor Zaw Ye Htet was arrested on May 13, the same day
his online news agency Dae Pyaw published an erroneous article
alleging there had been a death due to Covid-19 in eastern Karen
state.
On May 20, just one week later, he faced trial, an unusually
swift process in a country where suspects often languish for months
behind bars before being convicted.
“He was sentenced under section 505(b) to two years in jail” by
the court in Karen state, his lawyer Myint Thuzar Maw said on
Friday.
The notorious Section 505(b) is a vaguely worded law, often
thrown at journalists and activists for making any statement that
cause fear or alarm.
“We’ll appeal this unfair decision,” Zaw Ye Htet’s wife Phyu
Phyu Win told AFP by phone.
It is not clear why the trial took place so quickly.
Karen state borders Thailand and saw more than 16,000 returning
Myanmar migrant workers early April after the pandemic caused huge
job losses in Thailand and borders started to close.
The state has so far only reported two cases of coronavirus and
no deaths.
The government has warned people will be prosecuted for
spreading misinformation about the pandemic, but this is the first
known case.
It is also drafting new legislation on the control of
communicable diseases that would make it even easier to criminalise
reporters deemed to be causing public panic.
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson branded
the move a “recipe for disaster” and warned against denying people
the information they need.
Under international law, restrictions to freedom of speech must
be carefully spelled out, he added