Analysing 4 years of journalist detentions in post-coup Myanmar

Summary

The military detained 221 journalists from over 100 media outlets in the four years following the coup. Human Rights Myanmar assisted in the publication of ICNL’s comprehensive investigation into arrests, criminal proceedings, sentencing, and releases, highlighting specific rights violations. The report also examines the editorial positions of targeted media outlets and the distinct treatment of women journalists.

Key statistics

• 221 journalists detained
• 51 still imprisoned by February 2025
• 88 journalists sentenced to a combined 497 years in prison
• 23% of convicted journalists given extreme sentences of 10 to 27 years in prison
• 170 journalists released so far, after an average of 6 months in prison each
• 99 media outlets had journalists detained; 83 of them had journalists sentenced
• Women faced higher charge and conviction rates

Executive summary

The Myanmar military launched a crackdown on media freedom as part of a coup d’état on 1 February 2021, persecuting journalists and rolling back a decade of legal reforms. ICNL has built a large case database of detained journalists, cross-corroborating multiple civil society monitoring efforts, and complementing them with an analysis of the legal status of cases.

Over the past four years, the military has detained over 220 journalists from almost 100 media outlets, charging 175 with a crime under nine separate laws, mainly incitement, “false news”, and weaponised counter- terrorism provisions.
The military’s sham courts have ignored domestic and international law and disregarded due process, sentencing 88 journalists so far to a combined total of 497 years imprisonment, with individual terms up to 27 years long. At least 51 journalists were languishing in prison by the end of February 2025, causing a chilling effect across the media and presenting severe challenges to media outlets’ resources, capacity, and morale.

Despite all of this, Myanmar’s journalists and media outlets remain bravely committed to building a robust information ecosystem for a public desperately seeking to know the truth about military oppression.

Stakeholders, including the United Nations internationally and within Myanmar, should strengthen the support for detained journalists and the media, ensuring it adequately reflects their role as the oxygen of the ongoing movement for a return to democratization. Now is also the time for the development of reform proposals for a legitimate government to roll back the military’s attacks on the rights to freedom of expression and association.

Download full report in English | Myanmar

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