Call for release of jailed Myanmar reporters

A coalition of media groups on Thursday called on Myanmar to end the harassment of journalists and to release 17 video reporters serving long prison sentences in the military-dominated country. A dozen organisations, including the Democratic Voice of Burma and Reporters Without Borders, urged the United Nations, the ASEAN regional bloc and the European Union to press Myanmar to release all jailed journalists. "There is evidence that despite pledges to the contrary, freedom of the press and freedom of expression continue to deteriorate in Burma, with regulations over access to the Internet tightened and journalists now forced to self-censor with greater intensity," they said in a joint statement. The DVB, which last year was tipped as one of the top contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize, says that since December two of its video journalists have been jailed for up to 13 years. They have joined the other 15 DVB reporters in detention including Hla Hla Win, who was sentenced to 27 years in jail in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for interviewing a monk during the 2007 "Saffron Revolution" failed uprising. The statement said some of the jailed DVB journalists may have been tortured during interrogation. Myanmar's generals in March handed over power to a nominally civilian government after almost half a century of military rule. The move followed the country's first election in two decades. The polls, criticised by pro-democracy campaigns and Western governments as a charade to put a civilian facade on army rule, were marred by the absence of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and complaints of cheating and intimidation.