YANGON: Myanmar’s military authorities have charged an Associated Press photographer and five other journalists over their coverage of anti-coup protests, their lawyer said on Wednesday (Mar 3). AP photographer Thein Zaw, 32, was arrested on Saturday as he covered a demonstration in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon. The country has been in uproar since Feb 1, when the army detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders, ending Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and sparking protests far and wide. READ: More protests in Myanmar as ousted president faces 2 new charges Thein Zaw’s lawyer said he and five other Myanmar journalists had been charged under a law against “causing fear, spreading false news or agitating directly or indirectly a government employee”. The military government amended the law last month, to increase the maximum sentence from two years to three years in jail. “Ko Thein Zaw was simply reporting in line with press freedom law – he wasn’t protesting, he was just doing his work,” the lawyer, Tin Zar Oo, said, adding that all six were being held at Insein prison in Yangon. The United States, which has sharply criticized Myanmar’s military for deposing the elected government, called for the journalists’ release. The United States is… Read full this story
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