Kyaw Min Swe, the editor of Aasan, a newspaper that was forced to close immediately after the military coup in February 2021, was arrested ten days ago at his home in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, although his arrest was kept secret until today (21 April). He has been charged under Section 505A of the penal code, under which the publication of content that expresses hostility towards Myanmar’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, is punishable by three years in prison.
Kyaw Min Swe was arrested on 11 April shortly after turning his Facebook profile photo into a black square in a comment about an air strike earlier that day on Pazi Gyi, a village in the centre of the country, that killed at least 171 people, mainly civilians. For this “hostile” content, he is now facing up to three years in prison.
The executive director of the Living Colour Media group and editor of its newspaper Aasan (The Voice), Kyaw Min Swe had to stop publishing Aasan after the February 2021 coup by the military, who immediately banned most independent media outlets.