5/24/22, 7:35 PM Global Voices » Since 2016, Myanmar Courts Have Convicted 100% of People Charged Under Telecom Law 66 (d) · Global … - Global Voices - https://globalvoices.org - Since 2016, Myanmar Courts Have Convicted 100% of People Charged Under Telecom Law 66 (d) Posted 29 January 2018 17:47 GMT 1 · Written by Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman Categories: East Asia, Myanmar (Burma), Censorship, Digital Activism, Freedom of Speech, Law, Media & Journalism, Advox [1] Journalist Wunna Tun (left) in conversation with poet and activist Maung Saungkha at the Myanmar Digital Rights Forum 2018 In 2016-17, every person charged under Section 66 (d) of Myanmar's Telecommunications Law was convicted and sentenced to prison. The notorious Section 66(d) provides for up to three years in prison for “extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening any person using a telecommunications network.” New research by Free Expression Myanmar (FEM), a local NGO, shows that the use of Section 66 (d) has produced a 100 percent conviction rate [2] and that penalties issued under the law have disproportionately harsh. “Every court has given a prison sentence and none has given a fine,” the group stated in the report [3] titled “66 D: No Real Change”. The FEM report monitored 106 cases from November 2015 to November 2017, observing that there has been an increase [4] in the number of cases since the National League for Democracy (NLD) assumed power in 2016. NLD is led by Nobel Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who for many years had criticized the military-led government for suppressing free speech in the country. One prominent example of how local officials have used section 66 (d) to harass [5] the media came with the case of Democratic Voice of Burma journalist Wunna Tun. While working on an investigative story about irregularities in irrigation https://globalvoices.org/2018/01/29/since-2016-myanmar-courts-have-convicted-100-of-people-charged-under-telecom-law-66-d/print/ 1/3