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Agence France-Presse

A Myanmar court has jailed a woman for six months for a Facebook post “ridiculing” the country’s army chief and the colour of a new uniform, the latest in an escalating crackdown on free speech.
Chaw Sandi Tun, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s election-winning National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was found guilty by the Ma-ubin Township Court in Ayeyawady Region.
“We will appeal as we are not satisfied,” her mother Ei San said.
She was sentenced under the telecommunications law, enacted in 2013 as part of an opening up of the telecoms sector.
The act contains a broadly worded clause that prohibits use of the telecoms network to “extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb, inappropriately influence or intimidate”.
Her lawyer confirmed the sentence but said his client denied making the post.
“She said her Facebook account had been hacked several times and that she didn't post that post,” Robert San Aung said.

Chaw Sandi Tun’s post compared the light green new uniform for army officers with that of a “longyi”, a traditional Myanmar skirt worn by Suu Kyi.
“If you love mother that much, why don't you wrap mother's longyi on your head?” the post said.
She was arrested in October. The same month, Patrick Kum Jaa Lee, an NGO worker, was arrested for a Facebook post that mocked the army.
He faces up to three years in prison if found guilty.
Critics say the arrests are part of a wider crackdown on social media posts deemed offensive to the military and government.
Myanmar has come a long way since the decades of brutal rule under a junta which tolerated little dissent, jailed critics, ran vast informant networks and kept the nation closed off as its economy collapsed.
The quasi-civilian government which replaced outright junta rule in 2011 was widely praised for a series of political and economic reforms, with most international sanctions dropped.
In recent years social media has also exploded, a new phenomenon in a country where owning a mobile phone just five years ago cost thousands of dollars.
But in recent months the military and its incumbent army-backed government have been accused by rights groups of returning to junta-era tactics. There was widespread criticism of a violent police crackdown on student protesters earlier this year.
In February a freelance photojournalist was arrested for uploading a satirical post on Facebook mocking the military.
And in October 2014 another freelance journalist was shot dead by the army in a case raised by US President Barack Obama during his official visit to Myanmar.
Two soldiers were later acquitted of the murder in a country where the powerful military remains shielded from civilian oversight.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse


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No Caption Available.

Chaw Sandi Tun, 25, was arrested in October after a post on her Facebook page made fun of the army. Photo: Facebook

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