Prison authorities in Myanmar are accused of subjecting a jailed journalist to abuse after he exposed human rights violations in the prison, according to his employer.
Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist for the independent news agency Myanmar Now, is imprisoned in Insein Prison, a facility with a dire record of rights abuses.
He and the two other prisoners, Thet Hnin Aung and Naing Win, have been subjected to physical and mental abuse every day since January, according to Myanmar Now.
The inmates are beaten daily, Myanmar Now reported.
The abuse is believed to be in retaliation to Sai Zaw Thaike and the others informing visiting National Human Rights Commission representatives that prison staff were violating the human rights of other prisoners, Myanmar Now reported, citing sources inside the prison.
The junta-appointed National Human Rights Commission has a mandate to monitor and protect the rights of Myanmar’s people.
A committee of the nonpartisan Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions in 2024, however, recommended suspending the commission from its membership over complaints, including over its independence.
Myanmar Now has said that it believes the action against its photojournalist is also punishment for his leaking information to news outlets while detained, and for his reporting about the military before his arrest.
Myanmar’s military did not immediately reply to VOA’s request for comment.
Sai Zaw Thaike was arrested in May 2023 and later that year sentenced to 20 years in prison for sedition.
He is one of dozens of journalists to have been detained since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup.
The military, known as the Tatmadaw, has sought to control media through jailings, revoking broadcast licenses and blocking access to internet, watchdogs say. The harsh environment for media resulted in some news outlets closing and many journalists and their operations moving into exile.
The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, called on Myanmar’s military to halt the abuse.
“Myanmar’s junta must identify and hold to account those responsible for assaulting journalist Sai Zaw Thaike,” CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative Shawn Crispin said in a statement.
“This type of abuse is cruel and grotesque,” Crispin said, adding that the military “must stop jailing and abusing journalists now.”
VOA was unable to independently verify the reports of abuse. However, rights groups have long documented torture in Myanmar custody. Former inmates at Insein Prison have reported beatings, burns and electrical shocks being administered.
In 2022, a journalist with the independent news outlet Frontier Myanmar said he was beaten and raped by regime soldiers while detained.
Myanmar ranks third worst in the world in terms of journalist jailings, according to CPJ, with 35 behind bars for their work as of December. Among them is a contributor to VOA’s Burmese service.
The country ranks 171 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media freedom environment.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
