Government denies Unity Journal's claim
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The government spokesman told Weekly Eleven on Sunday that the factory referred to by the Unity Journal was only a weapons factory.
“It’s not a chemical weapons factory as reported in the Unity. It’s only a military factory. Our country signed an international anti-chemical weapon pact,” Ye Htut, who is government spokesman and deputy minister for the Information Ministry, said.
He continued that even the United States keeps information about its weapon factories secret for the sake of national security. The reporters who wrote the factory’s report now face charges under the government’s secrets act, Ye Htut said.
The January 23 and January 30 issues of the Unity Journal reported about the secret factory in Pauk Township.
Report Lu Maw Naing Pauk was detained for questioning workers on the evening of January 31, and was sent to Pakoukku the next morning after being charged under the 1923 Burma Official Secrets Act.
On February 1, the Unity’s chief executive officer Tint San was taken by the authorities in Yangon for questioning and other Yangon-based reporters namely Yazar Oo, Paing Thet Kyaw and Sithu Soe were also detained.
