The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organisation that defends the rights of journalists, called Tuesday for the release of Htet Aung, a Myanmar journalist who had been sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour.

The sentence of Htet Aung followed the publication of his article for the DMG Newsroom titled “Calls for justice on the sixth anniversary of Muslim genocide in Arakan State” which outlines the 2017 clearance operation by the Myanmar military in Arakan (also known as Rakhine State) and reports on human rights groups’ campaign for accountability and justice. The CPJ alert reports the original charge of defamation was changed in December to abetting terrorism under s 52(a) Anti-Terrorism Law. The Anti-Terrorism Law includes objectives of peace and upholding UN Conventions.

DMG Newsroom specialises in reporting news from Rakhine State where the Rakhine, or the Arakanese, have suffered persecution through colonialism, poverty, exploitation, and human rights violations. The 2017 clearance operation which was being reported on by Htet Aung has been described by the UN as “textbook ethnic cleansing”.

The CPJ Alertmore generally calls on the Myanmar authorities to “allow members of the press to do their jobs without fear of legal reprisal or imprisonment.” In February the CPJ also called for the investigation of the killing of journalist Myat Thu Tan, whose body was found in a Rakhine State military camp with signs of torture. The CPJ’s prison census (2023), ranks Myanmar as the second worst country for the jailing of journalists as freedom of the media in the country has been particularly devastated since the military coup in 2021.