By: Priscila Néri, Posted: Feb 4 09

Regions: Myanmar

Issues: Detention, Freedom of opinion & expression

Tags: burma, images, political oppression, video

This footage was one of many video clips shot by citizen journalists in Burma during the Saffron Revolution of 2007, when the people of Burma rose up in a series of mass, peaceful protests against the military regime that has ruled the country for the past two decades.  

In Burma, shooting, owning, sharing, or watching video can earn you years in jail.  So what happened to the people that shot (and circulated) this kind of footage during the Saffron Revolution?  As Sam Gregory reports in this post, the Burma regime systematically hunted down the people filmed and the people who filmed and distributed the material.  Over 1,000 people were arrested in 2008, many sentenced to up to 65 years in prison.

The latest example of Burma's crackdown on video is the case of Ko Zaw Htay, recently sentenced to ten years in jail for allegedly helping farmers shoot video to substantiate complaints to the International Labor Organization (ILO) about land confiscation by Burma's military.  Read more about the case and learn how you can take action and call for Htay's immediate release.