Voices silenced: DVB says Oo (left) and Thu were close friends. — AP
Two freelance journalists in the strife-torn nation of Myanmar were killed, one allegedly after being captured, when security forces raided the home of one of them in the southern Mon State, colleagues and media reports said.
Win Htut Oo, 26, a freelancer working for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), an online and broadcast news agency – and Htet Myat Thu, 28, were the latest journalists to be killed by the security forces of the ruling military, which seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
DVB described the two as close friends.
At least five other media workers have been killed and others tortured while in detention, according to colleagues who keep a tally of killings and arrests.
“The killing of journalists Win Htut Oo and Htet Myat Thu is an atrocity against the free press and must not go unpunished,” said Shawn Crispin, South-East Asia representative of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in a statement.
“Myanmar authorities must ensure swift and full justice for the country’s independent journalists who are being killed simply for reporting the news.”
Voices silenced: DVB says Oo (left) and Thu were close friends. — AP
Khin Yupar, head of DVB’s Citizen Journalist Network programme, said on Friday that Thu’s house in Letpya village in Mon State’s Kyaikhto township was raided by about 30 members of the security forces at 9am on Wednesday while their friends who belonged to the Kyaikhto Revolution Force were making a visit.
The group is one of many local armed resistance forces formed to oppose military rule after the 2021 army takeover.
Oo, who had been living at the house since July, and a member of the resistance group were shot dead during the raid, and another guerrilla and Thu were killed after being arrested by soldiers, she said.
“It is unacceptable that the junta’s forces attacked and shot journalists without examining and questioning them.
“We condemn violence against unarmed journalists,” Khin Yupar added.
Like many other young people in Myanmar, he took part in protests in 2021 against the military takeover, and went into hiding after being sought by police on charges of incitement.
Incitement is a charge that has been especially used against journalists, for allegedly causing fear, spreading false news or agitating against a government employee.
Khin Yupar also denied the claims on pro-army social media that Oo had been a member of the resistance force, saying that he mixed with the group’s members as part of his duty to gather information from all sources. — AP
