Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia Case of Ko Swe Win In July 2017, Ko Swe Win, editor-in-chief of news outlet Myanmar Now, was arrested following the filing of a complaint by a member of ultranationalist group Ma Ba Tha that he had allegedly defamed U Wirathu, a Buddhist monk and former leader of the group.131 The complaint was filed under section 66(d) in March 2017, following a post Ko Swe Win had made on his Facebook page that alleged that U Wirathu had ‘violated’ the rules of monkhood. In February 2017, U Wirathu had praised – in a Facebook post – the killer of human rights lawyer U Ko Ni, who was assassinated following his vocal advocacy against hate speech and racial and religious discrimination.132 Soon after, Myanmar Now reported on U Wirathu’s post, including a quote from a senior monk who alleged that U Wirathu’s comments could warrant expulsion from monkhood.133 Ko Swe Win’s Facebook post referred to the Myanmar Now article. From the time his trial commenced in July 2017, Ko Swe Win travelled long distances between the court in Mandalay where charges against him were filed and his home in Yangon for nearly two years to attend more than 55 hearings.134 Each round-trip took him a minimum of 16 hours and cost him at least 500,000 Kyats (approx. USD 330).135 Multiple irregularities were observed in the trial process, including constant delays by the plaintiff resulting in unreasonable prolonging of his trial, in contravention of his fair trial rights. In July 2019, after two years, the court in Mandalay dropped the case against Ko Swe Win.136 131 Sean Gleeson, ‘Myanmar Now editor Ko Swe Win arrested at Yangon Airport’, Frontier Myanmar, 30 July 2017, Available at: https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/myanmar-now-editor-ko-swe-winarrested-at-yangon-airport 132 ICJ, ‘Myanmar: ICJ marks 2nd year anniversary of the killing of lawyer U Ko Ni’, 29 January 2018, Available at: https://www.icj.org/myanmar-icj-marks-2nd-year-anniversary-of-the-killing-oflawyer-u-ko-ni/; ICJ, ‘Killing of lawyer U Ko Ni must be promptly and impartially investigated’, 30 January 2017, Available at: https://www.icj.org/icj-statement-on-the-killing-of-lawyer-u-ko-ni/ 133 Htun Khaing, ‘Prominent reporter refuses to apologise after Ma Ba Tha files defamation suit’, Frontier Myanmar, 8 March 2017, Available at: https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/prominentreporter-refuses-to-apologise-after-ma-ba-tha-files-defamation-suit 134 ICJ et. al, ‘Joint statement: Myanmar authorities must drop the case against Ko Swe Win and decriminalise defamation’, 7 March 2019, Available at: https://www.icj.org/joint-statementmyanmar-authorities-must-drop-the-case-against-ko-swe-win-and-decriminalise-defamation/ 135 Moe Myint, ‘Nationalists Subject Journalist to Devastating Legal Ordeal’, The Irrawaddy, 17 January 2019, Available at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/features/nationalists-subject-journalistdevastating-legal-ordeal.html 136 Zarni Mann, ‘Lawsuit Against Myanmar Now Editor Dropped After 2 Years’, The Irrawaddy, 2 July 2019, Available at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/lawsuit-myanmar-now-editordropped-2-years.html 47