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Burma Jails Journalist for 2 Years for Covering Cyclone Victims

15 November 2008

Burmese media say a local journalist has been sentenced to two years in prison for covering a rally by victims of a devastating cyclone.

Media sources say a court in Rangoon sentenced Ein Khaing Oo on Friday after a closed-door trial, in which she had no defense lawyer.  She was convicted of taking photos that could be used by foreign news organizations to harm Burmese interests.

The reporter for Burmese magazine Eco Vision already had spent five months in prison.  She was arrested June 10 while covering the rally of cyclone survivors outside a United Nations building in Rangoon.

The participants in the rally were appealing for aid from the U.N. Development Program after failing to get help from Burmese authorities.  

Cyclone Nargis battered Burma's Irrawaddy Delta in early May, leaving around 130,000 people dead or missing.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders expressed outrage at Ein Khaing Oo's jail sentence and appealed to Burma's military rulers to free her.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

  


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