Unit 3: 3.1. Law Amendments and Repressing Journalists Repression of Journalists and News Media under Amended Laws and Revised Provisions 3.1.a. Drafting the Amendment Cyber-security Law to Undermine Press Freedom and Journalist Security Following the military coup, SAC amended 28 laws and applied the Penal Code and the AntiTerrorism Law in prosecuting news media and journalists. SAC ignored the provisions in the News Media Law to protect the rights of journalists; thus, the legal entitlements of journalists were disregarded. There are currently 48 journalists, mostly facing charges under criminal law such as 505A in the special courts of various prisons. Some face even more complicated charges under the Explosive Substance Act, the Unlawful Associations Act, and the Anti-Terrorism Act. A few days following the coup, there were reports of passing a drafted Cyber-security Law amendment (embedded upon the Electronic Transaction Law, 2004) that would directly restrict the press freedom for journalists and media outlets. In the drafted amendments, the revised provisions may hamper democratic values and freedom of expression in reporting news protected by the News Media Law, including restrictions to the online news media in their rights to freely reporting, broadcasting, and access to information. The drafted amendments of cyber-security law undermined the purpose of News Media Law that encourages news media publications where citizens can exercise their freedom of expression and right to information and the full entitlement of journalistic rights and freedoms. As another method of suppressing media freedom and journalist security, the drafted amendment was devised to go against Article 19 of UDHR, the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Thus, many media organizations and advocates for freedom of expression strongly denounced it. 3.1.b. Applying the Amended Penal Code Sections for Prosecuting Journalists On February 14, Section 121, 122, 124 (a and b), and 505 (a, b, c, and d) in the Penal Code were amended. Section 124 is extended with clauses (c) and (d), while section 505-A with sub clauses 505-A (a, b, and c). One of the amendments to Article 124 (a) Misprision of High Treason in the Penal Code is currently applied in lawsuits against journalists. While the original provision is “(to) bring or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government,” Repeated Dark Age of News Media 16