Analysis: Current Landscape of Hate Speech in Myanmar prison with hard labour to be served consecutively.542 There is a possibility that more township courts could try and sentenced them further for the same incident. „„ Nine student leaders from the Arakan Student Union were charged in February 2020, under the Peaceful Assembly Law for organizing a public protest calling for an end to the nearly year-long internet shutdown in Rakhine state.543 If convicted, they could face up to threemonths imprisonment. Myanmar has also pursued problematic, months-long internet shutdowns, which has been on and off since June 2019. The internet shutdowns have affected nearly one million people across nine townships in Rakhine and Chin States.544 Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications or- dered mobile phone operators to stop mobile internet traffic following intensified clashes with the Arakan Army, claiming that it needed such measures due to “disturbances of peace and use of internet services to coordinate illegal activities” and to “maintain the stability and law and order in these areas.”545 However, local human rights groups, journalists, Rakhine lawmakers, international NGOs and aid agencies in Myanmar including the UN called for restoring services as it has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, cutting off communications and endangering the lives and safety of local communi- ties. The former UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee expressed concern that civilians in the affected area have been cut off from all means of communication and with no media access or humanitarian access. She believes that the internet shutdowns could be utilized as “a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population.”546 At the time of writing, the internet shutdown remains in the aforementioned states. As discussed, a number of individuals have also been criminally prosecuted and imprisoned for work that threatens the military and government positions. (See Box on Closing Civil Society Space.) State-initiated prosecutions and arrests have not been the only risks that HRDs and activists have faced as a result of their work. CSOs also noted that their activism has come under attack from citizens as well, citing the risk that “if other segments of society don’t like us, they can report our work to the authorities.”547 In addition, civil society actors have faced targeted threats against them via social me- dia posts that circulate hate speech and false news about both their personal and professional lives.548 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 Ibid. “Myanmar Students Face Charges Over Internet Shutdown Protest: Student Union”Reuters, February 24, 2020), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-internet/myanmar-students-face-charges-over-internet-shutdownprotest-student-union-idUSKCN20I16X “Myanmar Again Cuts Rakhine State’s Internet,” Human Rights Watch, February 5, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/ news/2020/02/05/myanmar-again-cuts-rakhine-states-internet. “Myanmar Reimposes Internet Shutdown in Conflict-Torn Rakhine, Chin States: Telco Operator,” Reuters, February 5, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rakhine/myanmar-reimposes-internet-shutdown-in-conflict-torn-rakhine-chin-states-telco-operator-idUSKBN1ZZ0LC “Myanmar: UN Expert ‘Fears for Civilians’ after Internet Shutdown,” Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, June 24, 2019, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24733&LangID=E 002-R3-03, 1. Ibid.; See also Shawn Crispin, “From Conflict Zones to Courtrooms, Myanmar’s Journalists Are under Fire,” Committee to Protect Journalists, July 31, 2019, https://cpj.org/2019/07/myanmar-press-freedom-restricted-laws-conflict/. 81