17 December 2025
The Independent Myanmar Journalists Association (IMJA) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have condemned the Myanmar military court’s decision to sentence Kachin ethnic female journalist Sut Ring Pan to a total of 13 years in prison.
IMJA has called for the immediate release of all detained journalists, while CPJ has urged the authorities to immediately stop arresting journalists under various charges.
“CPJ categorically condemns the severe sentence imposed on journalist Sut Ring Pan,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative.
Sut Ring Pan, a freelance journalist, was forcibly arrested at her home in Yangon at around 9:30 p.m. on 29 September 2024 by three plainclothes soldiers, who reportedly beat her during the arrest.
Following her detention, she was held at Ye Kyi Ai Interrogation Center, where she was interrogated and tortured for 22 days. She was later charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, and prosecuted at a court inside Insein Prison.
On 16 May 2025, she was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. Subsequently, on 2 December 2025, the Western Yangon District Court sentenced her to an additional 10 years in prison under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, bringing her total sentence to 13 years.
According to findings cited in IMJA’s research, the military authorities frequently arrest journalists, subject them to violence and torture, and impose lengthy prison sentences using various terrorism-related charges.
Since the military coup on 1 February 2021, the junta has killed at least seven journalists and arrested more than 200 journalists, IMJA reported. As of now, over 30 journalists remain detained in prisons across the country.
