80 Hate Speech Ignited: Understanding Hate Speech in Myanmar „„ In April 2018, eight students were convicted of criminal defamation for performing a sa- tirical anti-war play.531 The man who live-streamed the play on Facebook was sentenced to three months in jail for violating section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law.532 „„ 17 activists were charged in May 2018 for organizing a peace protest in Tarmwe township of Yangon. They had been calling for an end to fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups. Riot police and officers in plain clothes, violently apprehended the protestors and charged them under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. According to one of the main organizers on trial, the process has been 2 years and 60+ court appearance and a verdict is expected in July 2020. „„ Forty-seven youth anti-war activists were arrested in Meiktila and Yangon in July 2018 for participating in a peace protest highlighting the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Myanmar.533 The three main youth organizers were found guilty of criminal def- amation under the penal code.534 The court handed down a six-month sentence and fined them.535 „„ Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, a filmmaker and co-founder of the Human Rights, Human Dignity International Film Festival in Yangon, was arrested, tried and sentenced to one year for de- faming the Tatmadaw in August 2019.536 His lawyer’s request for bail on medical grounds during the trial was routinely denied, despite his failing health due to liver cancer.537 He had written a series of Facebook posts criticizing the 2008 Constitution and the military’s dominant role in politics.538 Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi was released in February 2020 after serving ten months in Insein prison.539 „„ Kay Khine Tun, Zeyar Lwin, Paing Ye Thu, Phoe Thar, and Paing Phyo Min of the Daungdoh Myoset (“Peacock Generation”) performance troupe were arrested in April 2019.540 They were triedunder section 505(a) of the Penal Code and section 66(d) of the Telecommuni- cations Actfor performing and livestreaming a satirical Thangyaton Facebook.541 Thangyats are satirical songs, chants, and dances that critique political and social issues and behaviors, and they are typically performed during Myanmar’s new year Water Festival. Five township courts have already convicted and sentenced the Daungdoh Myoset troupe to one year in 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 Ibid., 27-28. Ibid. Ibid., 28. Ibid. Ibid. Naw Betty Han, “Filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi Sentenced to One Year of Hard Labour,” Frontier Myanmar, August 29, 2019, https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/filmmaker-min-htin-ko-ko-gyi-sentenced-to-one-years-hard-labour/. “Myanmar: Drop Charges against Detained Filmmaker,” Amnesty International, August 1, 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/08/myanmar-drop-charges-detained-filmmaker/. Ibid. Khin Moh Moh Lwin, “Filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi Freed from Prison,” Myanmar Now, February 21, 2020, https:// myanmar-now.org/en/news/filmmaker-min-htin-ko-ko-gyi-freed-from-prison. “Peacock Generation: Satirical Poets Jailed in Myanmar,” BBC News, October 30, 2019, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ world-asia-50238031. “Myanmar: Satire Performers Who Mocked Military Face Prison in ‘Appalling’ Conviction,” Amnesty International, October 30, 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/myanmar-satire-performers-who-mocked-military-face-prison-appalling-conviction/.