Myanmar newspaper sued for defamation apologizes

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) - A leading local newspaper in Myanmar and its chief executive officer have apologized to a senior government official over an opinion piece accusing him of corruption.

Than Tun Aung, the CEO of Eleven Media Group, and Wai Phyo, chief editor of Daily Eleven newspaper, were sued last month for writing, publishing and posting on the newspaper’s website and social media an article which the chief minister Phyo Min Thein described as tantamount to defaming the Yangon regional government.

The article -- titled Myanmar, One Year after the Nov 8 Polls -- accuses the Yangon Region chief minister of “rosy relations with corrupt officials” and of wearing a $100,000 Patek Philippe brand watch allegedly gifted by a convicted drug lord. It was published by Daily Eleven newspapers as well as by several newspapers in 21 Asian countries.

On Tuesday, Eleven Media Group published an announcement apologizing to Phyo Min Thein and the Yangon regional government for misinformation in the article after a court denied a third bail application for Than Tun Aung, who was reportedly in ill health and had suffered a heart attack in prison.

It also said Eleven Meida Group has already closed all cases against social media users under the much criticized section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law.

The arrest of the two media chiefs has been condemned by the Asia News Network and by international media and rights groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, WAN-IFRA and Amnesty International.

Domestic media groups have also been strongly critical that the pair were arrested and charged without bail under section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law.

Section 66-D of the law states: “Whoever commits any of the following acts shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine or to both: (D) Extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network.”

When introduced in 2013, it replaced the Electronic Transactions Law; one of several repressive laws enacted by a former junta to repress opposition figures and activists.

However, five people have been jailed under the charges while 15 people are facing the charges since the current civilian government led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel Peace laureate -- took power in late March, according to a group lobbying to amend the law.

“There are 38 cases under the section 66(d) under the current government,” said Maung Saung Kha, a poet who had been jailed under the same charges for writing a poem about tattooing the previous president’s name on his genitalia.

“The law is clearly violating citizens’ rights and freedom of expression,” he told Anadolu Agency by phone Tuesday.

Despite calls from local and international rights group to repeal section 66(d), the parliament has made no plans to amend the Telecommunications Law.

Powerful lower house speaker Win Myint told a press conference last week that the country still needs the law to handle online defamation.