Press council condemns jail term

The statement will be distributed to all members of the council who were unable to attend this meeting, said Kyaw Min Swae, the council’s secretary. 

He said that it has been a norm for consultation before the sentencing of journalists. 

“Our negotiations committee was at the court,” he said. “The committee also tried to solve this before the trial began. The law specified if the council would handle the matters if there is any suspicion of violating the ethics code or other laws. Some matters do not need to go court. But this case went straight to the court and the journalists were sent straight to jail. It’s unacceptable. We can’t change the verdict but we can definitely say we do not agree with it,” he said.

The Myanmar Post’s chief editor U Than Htite Thu and deputy chief reporter U San Moe Htun were sentenced to two months in jail for a report quoting a military MP.