The Myanmar military has withdrawn defamation charges it filed against the Reuters news agency in March 2020 and a senior editor at The Irrawaddy in April 2019.
Both charges stem from coverage of armed conflict in northern Rakhine state.
Brigadier general Zaw Min Tun, the military’s spokesperson, told Myanmar Now on Wednesday that the Tatmadaw withdrew the charges at the request of the Myanmar Press Council.
But, he added: “We urge the media not to write one-sided reports that could harm the dignity of the Tatmadaw as an institution.”
Both charges were filed under section 66d of the Telecommunications Law, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.
The Irrawaddy charge was filed against Ye Ni, senior editor of the outlet’s Burmese language edition, on April 12, 2019, though the court hadn’t accepted the case until just this past Monday.
Ye Ni told Myanmar Now early Wednesday evening he had not been officially informed about the withdrawal.
The charges stemmed from an article he published by a journalist who witnessed an armed clash in April 2019 between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Mrauk-U.
In the article, a first-person account titled “Reporter’s Notebook: On the Ground in Mrauk-U”, the reporter described hearing gunshots and “deafening artillery explosions” when a Myanmar military convoy entered the town and opened fire.
It was actually first published in English and written by Moe Myint, a senior reporter for the site’s English language edition. The military did not take legal action until the report was translated and published in Burmese.
Moe Myint was never charged. He has since left The Irrawaddy to become the deputy chief of RFA’s Myanmar service.
Lieutenant colonel Zaw Min Tun of the Yangon Regional Command, who filed the complaint with the Kyauktada township police in April, said the dispatch contradicted the military’s official statement on what happened that day while failing to include a response from the Tatmadaw.
Myint Kyaw, the press council joint secretary, said anytime someone wants to dispute the way the news is reported they should come to the press council instead of the courts.
“We welcome the withdrawal and hope there are no more cases like it in the future,” he told Myanmar Now.
The military filed a complaint with the press council on January 30 of this year about a January 25 headline on a Reuters story they also said was biased and one-sided.
The headline, which paraphrased comments from a member of parliament, read: ‘Two Rohingya women killed as Myanmar army shells village – MP”.
Reuters changed the headline after learning about the military’s complaint. The new headline dropped the attributed remarks and clarified that it was unclear who was responsible for the deaths.
In a statement included with the updated version, a Reuters spokesperson said the agency stood by its original reporting but had made the changes “to fully reflect the Myanmar military’s position.”
While the press council was mediating that dispute, the military filed new legal charges – again under 66d – against Reuters and the Rakhine MP the story had quoted.
On Wednesday the military withdrew the charge against Reuters but the charge against the MP remains.
Reuters, in a prepared statement sent to Myanmar Now late Wednesday, said they welcomed the withdrawal.
(Writing by Tin Htet Paing)
