Mizzima’s news editor, Than Htike Aung, was sentenced to two years in prison by the military junta under Section 505 (a) of the penal code on 22 March and he will be transferred to Yamethin Prison.

He was arrested just over a year ago by plainclothes junta troops on 19 March 2021, whilst he was in front of Dakkhin Thiri court in Nay Pyi Taw covering the court case of the NLD official Win Htein.

He was arrested together with BBC Burmese correspondent Aung Thura, who was released on 22 March last year.

Mizzima, founded in 1998 in New Delhi, India, was the first exiled media organisation to return to Myanmar when the country opened up in 2012.

One of the first things the military regime did after the coup on 1 February 2021, was to shut down the Free-To-Air Mizzima TV channel that was broadcast across the country. On 8 March the regime revoked Mizzima Media’s publishing and broadcasting licenses. Then, on 9 March 2021, the military raided Mizzima’s Head Office in Yangon and took away whatever they found still left in the office after Mizzima had cleared it out. No staff were arrested during the raid because Mizzima had not used their Yangon office since the coup.

However, Mizzima continues its job of reporting, publishing, and broadcasting through various media platforms.