Jail Term for 4 People Working for TRT World in Myanmar

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Detained on October 27 for taking footage with a drone near parliamentary building, Journalists Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia as well as their driver who is a citizen of Malaysia and local journalist Aung Naing Soe working for TRT World stood trial in capital city of Naypyidaw.

According to a report by state-run Anadolu Agency citing Myanmar’s security officer Sann Aung, the staff were each sentenced to 2 months in prison.

Aung said that the aforementioned people will appear before judge again on November 16 on charge of brining drone to the country without permission.

The TRT World staff may face jail term up to 3 years or fine.

Aung Naing Soe’s mother Daw Thandar stated that she couldn’t visit his son in prison and said, “The punishment imposed is ridiculous. None of the drones in our country is licensed. At least my son and driver should be released since they are not the owners of the drone”.

What happened?

Four people were detained in Myanmar on Sunday (October 29) including two freelance reporters from Turkey's national public broadcaster, TRT World on the claims that they had been taking footage with a drone around the Parliament's building.

The staff were charged with “bringing drone into the country without permission”.

Following the detention, Soe’s home was raided and his computer was seized.

After four days of the detention, TRT World issued a statement and said that Ministry of Information of Myanmar was informed of the shooting. (EA/TK)