by Phanida
Monday, 01 June 2009 20:42
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese military junta authorities raided the office of the True News (Thitsa) Weekly Journal after sales of the journal picked up among supporters of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi waiting outside Insein prison on May 28, sources said.
On May 28 about 10 officials including police and intelligence personnel went in and searched the office of True News Journal in Botataung Township of Rangoon Division.
Sources said, earlier in the day an employee from the Journal had gone to sell the paper to the people assembled outside Insein prison waiting on the trial of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was produced in court.
Police in the evening, reportedly went to journal office and arrested the employee. But he was later released after a brief interrogation.
“They sold the copies of the journal to the people outside Insein prison monitoring news of the trial. The journal office was searched the same evening by police and the intelligence unit,” a Rangoon-based editor, who has close relations with the Journal, told Mizzima.
An official of the Journal office confirmed of police coming to the office but declined to elaborate.
True News Journal, in its latest issue, carried an article by veteran journalist Ludu Sein Win as a cover story. The next day the censor board summoned an official of the journal and reportedly warned him.
“They changed the content of the journal, which was different from the draft copy permitted by the censor board. In the original copy, there was an article written by Maung Wuntha, which had been cleared by the censor board,” the editor said.
Reportedly the journal changed it with Ludu Sein Win’s article without permission but they were called and reprimanded and had to sign a pledge not to repeat in the future, the editor added.
But when contacted by Mizzima, the journal official refused to confirm the signing of the pledge saying, “We cannot answer this question for the time being. The person who was arrested is now with us.”
True News (Thitsa) Journal is popular among readers for its quality articles, which are its main features.
Monday, June 1, 2009
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