CPJ Condemns Myanmar’s Charges Against AAMIJ News and Ongoing Suppression of Journalists

IPW Report- New York, Nov 20, 2025

According to a statement released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on November 12, 2025, Myanmar’s authorities must immediately drop the charges filed against the exile-run AAMIJ News and release freelance contributor Myat Thu Kyaw, who has been imprisoned since January 2023. CPJ criticized the military government for its escalating harassment of independent media covering election-related issues.

On November 10, the junta charged AAMIJ News under the recently enacted Election Protection Law, which allows prison sentences of three years to life for actions deemed threatening or obstructive to election personnel, candidates, or voters. The charges followed AAMIJ’s November 6 report alleging that an election candidate was involved in illegal drug trafficking.

CPJ’s Senior Southeast Asia Representative, Shawn Crispin, condemned the case as a “blatant and grotesque attack on press freedom,” urging authorities to cease retaliatory actions against the media.

Freelance journalist Myat Thu Kyaw was arrested in Yangon on January 13, 2023. He received a three-year incitement sentence in July 2023 and was handed an additional five years and six months under the Counterterrorism Law on January 28, 2024. According to AAMIJ editor Htet Arkar, the journalist was beaten and stabbed during military interrogation and is currently detained in Yangon’s Insein Prison.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not respond to CPJ’s inquiries regarding the charges or the reported abuse.

CPJ notes that Myanmar remains one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, with at least 32 currently imprisoned.

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)