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Protests urged as Myanmar
jails blogger for 20 years
Toronto,
Nov 11(IANS) Reporters Without Borders Monday called on bloggers
worldwide to protest the jailing of a fellow blogger by the
Myanmar military junta for criticising it.
In
a statement in Montreal, Reporters Without Borders and the
Burma Media Association in Canada said that a Myanmar court
Monday jailed blogger Nay Phone Latt for 20 years and six
months for criticizing military junta head Gen Than Shwe.
A
poet, Saw Wai, was also sentenced to two years in prison for
writing a poem critical of the junta head.
``The
authorities have imposed an extraordinarily severe punishment
on Nay Phone Latt just for using the Internet,'' the two organisations
said in their statement.
``This
shocking sentence is meant to terrify those who go online
in an attempt to elude the dictatorship's ubiquitous control
of news and information, and we call for his immediate release.
``Saw
Wai, for his part, is being made to pay for his impertinence
and courage as a committed poet.''
The
two organisations called upon bloggers all over the world
to protest against Nay Phone Latt's arrest by carrying his
photo on their blogs and writing to Burmese embassies worldwide
to seek his release.
``Similarly,
we call on poets to defend fellow poet Saw Wai, who has been
jailed just because of one poem.''
The
two organisations said Nay Phone Latt's mother was not allowed
to attend the trial inside the prison at Insein.
``I
was expecting him to get 10 or 12 years in prison at the most.
I never imagined he would get this much. The authorities have
been excessively cruel with him,'' the statement quoted the
mother of the jailed blogger as saying.
Reporters
Without Borders also called on Pakistan to probe the death
of journalist Qari Muhammad Shoaib who was shot in his car
by soldiers in Mingora in the Swat Valley Nov 8.
The
32-year-old reporter, who worked with a local newspaper Khabar
Kar and contributed to a national daily, was killed while
driving a family member as he returned home, the statement
said.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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