On 4th May, Frontier Myanmar Editor Danny Faster was arrested at Yangon International Airport and charged under Section 505A of the Penal Code and Section 17/1 of the Unlawful Associations Act. Later, he was also charged under Section 13/1 of immigration law and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment on 12th November. On 15th November, three days after the verdict, he was released on amnesty and deported. He was also charged under Section 124 (a) of the Penal Code and Section 50A of the Counter-Terrorism Law. Ko Nyein Chan Wai, a journalist from Bago Weekly Journal, was arrested on May 14 and was sentenced to three years in prison under Section 505A of the Penal Code on December 16. He is also facing further charges under Section 124 (a) of the Penal Code. Thet Tun Aung (aka Maung Htoo San), a freelance photojournalist, was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison on 3rd June under Section 505 of the Penal Code. On 24th March, Taunggyi-based Kanbawza Times’s editor Nang Nang Tai, reporter Nang Win Yee, publisher Tin Aung Kyaw, and housekeeper Sai Sithu (accused to be a journalist) were arrested while hiding in Hopong township. They were sentenced to three years in prison on 10th December under Section 505A of the Penal Code. Ma Mya Wun Yan, an editor-in-chief of Than Lwin Thway Chin News Agency, was arrested with her two daughters in Taunggyi on July 20 and she was sentenced to two years in prison under Section 505A of the Penal Code on December 30. Eleven months after the coup, 13 journalists (the housekeeper in Hopong case excluded) were sentenced before different courts. The closed-door hearings of the journalists’ trials were prosecuted in special courts where only an authorized lawyer was allowed. A legal analyst suspects the independence of the jurisdictions because the hearings are done under the tight observance of police, military intelligence, and staff from the Bureau of Special Investigations.10 3.3. Journalists in Trial Forty-eight journalists, whereas 39 male and 9 female, face trials in various prisons, being charged with criminal offenses. They are forced to be prosecuted before special courts in the prisons where the public hearing is not an option. 3.4. Unacknowledged Rights for Journalists Provided by News Media Law The military regime violates journalistic rights and fundamental citizen rights while they become lacking legal protections. As this research aims to clarify how journalists are losing their rights and protections, it needs to refer to the existing legal provisions enacted in previous government terms. Source: Surveying 17 news media and 80 journalists and facts collected from media reports, plus interview with legal specialist. 10 Repeated Dark Age of News Media 21