U Zaw Ye Htet, the Hpasithan Journal Chief Editor, was released on bail on 21 March following 14 days in prison charged with defaming the police force and the Karen State authorities.
U Zaw Ye Htet, also known as U Zaw Min Oo, had also been charged with defaming the Karen State Police Commander U Sein Lwin.
Police arrested him after he posted a Facebook article on 26 February which said that the police force under U Sein Lwin’s command was allowing trucks to illegally transport betel nuts along the Thai-Burma border while, at the same time, not allowing the legal transportation of betel nuts.
U Zaw Ye Htet had been imprisoned at Taungkalay Prison in Hpa-an, the Karen State capital and was granted bail by the Chief of Police at Myoma Police Station in Hpa-an.
He said: “I was taken to the police station to sign a bail bond for bail. I didn’t commit any crimes so I refused to do it. In the end, they reported me to their superiors in the police department and released me after granting me bail with the authority of the police station’s head.”
Previously U Zaw Ye Htet worked as a journalist for the Myanmar Post Journal and the Myanmar Post Global Journal. In the 2015 elections he also contested the post of Karen State Burmese Affairs Minister as a representative of the Democratic Party for a New Society.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
