Myanmar jails two journalists for defamation

A Myanmar court has jailed two reporters for two months for defamation, a newspaper editor said on Thursday, in a case likely to raise concern about a reform program after half a century of strict military rule. The media in Myanmar has enjoyed sweeping freedoms since a semi-civilian government took power in 2011 but the Committee to Protect Journalists said recently that since then, 10 journalists had been jailed and 19 were facing trial, and Myanmar was the 10th worst jailor of media workers in 2014. The Myanmar Post Journal said a court in Mon State had sentenced its chief editor, Than Htike Thu, and deputy chief reporter, Hsan Moe Tun, to the prison terms on Wednesday after a military representative to parliament had filed a complaint. Thaw Naing, the newspaper’s editor-in-charge, told Reuters the military representative had complained he was misquoted in a report about the sharing of seats in parliament between civilians and military representatives.

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