Myanmar newspapers protest journalist's imprisonment

In an act of protest, the front pages of some of Myanmar’s newspapers were deliberately printed in black-and-white after a journalist was sentenced to one year in jail for trying to interview an education department official.

Zaw Pe, a journalist for the online news portal Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) was convicted of trespassing and “disturbing a government official” by a court in Magway on Monday.

He was jailed with Win Myint Hlaing, a student’s father, who accompanied Zaw to the education department, to ask about a scholarship programme sponsored by the Japanese. The incident occurred in August 2012.

“They went to the education department with a simple request. The student’s father wanted to know more (about the scholarship) and Zaw Pe wanted to report about it,” said a lawyer, Thein Tun, as reported by AFP.

Among the papers involved in the protest are Daily Eleven and its sports journal.

“We printed this issue in black-and-white as a protest to the sentence carried out on the DVB journalist and to protest the harassment of journalists,” said the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Eleven, Wai Phyo, as quoted by Associated Press.

Zaw Pe, who was moved to a prison on Thursday, described the sentence as an infringement upon the rights and integrity of journalists.

“As a journalist, part of my job is to have good relations with the government or non-government organisations. Charging a journalist for trespassing and disturbing government officials will restrict journalists from going to government offices in the future. It will affect the objectivity of their reports,” he said, as quoted from DVB.

The sentence carried out on Zaw Pe also received objections from democracy activists in Myanmar and internationally who question the process of democratisation of a military ruled country since 1962.

DVB in a statement, stressed that their journalist did not trespass and did not disturb government officials but only wanted to carry out his job in the interest of the public.

“Even though the government has made many promises about media reforms, we believe the imprisonment of Zaw Pe is a restriction on press freedom in this country and we urge that he and others accused to be released immediately,” said the statement.

Last month, four journalists and the CEO of Unity Weekly journal were accused of violating the State Secrets Law. They were brought to court after the journal published a report about a factory that allegedly stored chemical weapons. The case is still ongoing.

DVB is an independent news source that had been operating from Norway and Thailand due to Myanmar being ruled by the military-junta.

Myanmar's transition back to the path of democracy witnessed many political prisoners freed.

The government also began to loosen the restrictions on the media, attracting some media agencies to operate back in their country.