Myanmar ruling party official jailed over Facebook post

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) - A senior researcher from Myanmar’s ruling party was given a six-month sentence on Friday for assaulting the military and police under a controversial online defamation law.

Myo Yan Naung Thein, secretary of National League for Democracy’s Central Committee for Research and Strategic Studies, was arrested and charged under section 66(d) of the Telecommunication Law for a Facebook post calling for the resignation of military chief following the failure to prevent attacks on police outpost in western Rakhine state last year.

A court in Kamaryut Township of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon on Friday handed down the jail sentence with hard labor.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. As a citizen, I should have rights to express my opinion,” Myo Yan Naung Thein told journalists after the court ruling.

He has been held in prison since his arrest in November. His release is expected next month.

The NLD-dominant parliaments have been criticized for showing no willingness to amend the law, which criminalizes defamation on the Internet with a penalty of up to three years in prison.

At least 61 cases have been filed under Section 66(d) during the current government, which took office in March 2016, according to a campaign led by a group of civil society activists most of whom were imprisoned under the law.