A large contingent of police and junta personnel both in uniform and plainclothes raided the old office of Narinjara, a media outlet based in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, on Saturday morning.
It was not immediately clear why regime security forces conducted the search of the Narinjara office.
“According to the bricklayers [who were doing repair work] at the old office, some of them were wearing uniforms and some were in ordinary clothes,” said Ko Man Yu Kyaw, a Narinjara assistant editor. “There was a police station chief as well as a police woman. They should have notified us in advance if they were planning to search the office. Their unnecessary display of force is a threat to the media.”
The media outlet said it would suspend operations until further notice as reporters working for Narinjara have gone into hiding following Saturday’s raid.
“We have many difficulties. We have had to go into hiding separately since this morning,” said Ko Man Yu Kyaw. “Circumstances have forced us to suspend our operations for a while.”
Arakan State journalists decried the weekend raid on the Narinjara office.
“We are officially registered news agencies,” said assistant editor Ko Tun Tha of Western News, another Arakan State media outlet that has also had its offices raided by the junta. “Soldiers and police are primarily responsible for public security, and they should talk with the media agencies if they suspect them of doing something wrong. News agencies and people will feel unsafe due to such actions.”
Myanmar’s military has opened a treason case against the chief editor of Western News and a reporter for the media outlet over its past reporting about the military.
“They are attempting to instill fear in us,” said Ko Tun Tha, who accused the regime of attempting to stifle the media by creating a climate of fear. “They first targeted Western News, and then Narinjara. They have done so to threaten journalists and news agencies in Arakan State, and to disrupt the flow of information.”
If intimidation is the goal, the junta’s tactics appear to be having their intended effect.
“I heard that there were also women among the personnel who came to search Narinjara. So, I feel like they are targeting women journalists more now,” a female journalist from Arakan State told DMG. “Journalists do not feel safe since the coup, and the raid has further fuelled their fears.”
The chief editor of DMG, U Aung Marm Oo, has been in hiding for more than three years, after the Myanmar Police Force’s Special Branch opened a case against him under Section 17(2) of the Unlawful Associations Act on May 1, 2019.
In January of last year, the military also opened a case against DMG deputy editor-in-charge Ko Ne Win San and female reporter Ma Hnin Nwe under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law and Section 505(a) of the Penal code for alleged online defamation and incitement. The two journalists have been in hiding for more than one year now.
