EU condemns China media 'harassment' after BBC departure

AFP

 

The European Union on Friday condemned the "harassment" of foreign journalists in China after a BBC correspondent left the country in the face of legal threats and pressure from authorities.

 

John Sudworth said he had quit China for Taiwan -- along with his Irish journalist wife -- after a "full-on propaganda attack" from the authorities due to his reporting on Xinjiang rights abuses and the coronavirus pandemic.

 

SAC orders shutdown of wireless internet services: telecom company

AFP

The State Administration Council (SAC) has ordered internet service providers to shut down the country's wireless services, telecommunications company Ooredoo said.

"Only fiber line will be working starting from tomorrow," the company told AFP. "We got instructions from the authorities recently."

Few people in Myanmar have access to such hard-line internet services.

© AFP

UN members decry Myanmar media repression

AFP

Dozens of UN member nations issued a statement Thursday denouncing internet shutdowns and attacks on freedom of expression in Myanmar.

Penned by Lithuania, Greece and France, the statement expressed "deep concern" over the plight of journalists and media workers since the military seized power in a February 1 coup.

We "strongly condemn their harassment, arbitrary arrests and detention, as well as of human rights defenders and other members of civil society," the statement read.

CRPH put forward an interim replacement charter for the constitution

Mizzima

The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) declared the country’s 2008 constitution void and put forward an interim replacement charter late Wednesday in a major political challenge to the ruling junta, Reuters reported.

The moves, while more symbolic than practical, could help woo the country’s armed ethnic militias to ally themselves with the mass protest movement against the military’s seizure of power in February, the report said.

SAC says Suu Kyi broke secrets law

AFP

Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been accused of breaking a colonial-era official secrets law, her lawyer said, as Britain ramped up sanctions against the junta and the UN Security Council condemned the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

The newly unveiled charge came amid growing international outrage over the February 1 coup and the military's subsequent clampdown on protesters that has left at least 535 people dead.

UK sanctions ramped up against military linked companies

Mizzima

The UK announced further measures targeting the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) today with sanctions against military-linked conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC).

Immediately enforced, the sanctions against MEC are in response to the Tatmadaw’s involvement in serious human rights violations, by making funds available to the military, as well as its association with senior military figures.

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