Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - In a rare public outcry, many Burmese newspapers printed black front pages to demand the release of journalists recently convicted and imprisoned on politically-motivated charges.
The latest case involves Zaw Pe, who was sentenced last Monday to a year in prison over charges that included "disturbing a public servant" and trespass.
His colleagues and several human rights groups are demanding his immediate release.
A reporter with the Democratic Voice of Burma, he was arrested after visiting the Department of Education in Magwe District to do an interview about a Japanese-funded scholarship programme.
The investigation provoked the wrath of local officials - who according to some sources inappropriately used student funds. This led to Zaw's arrest.
In response, his newspaper ran a black cover with the message: "Journalism is not a crime."
Zaw's case has revived the debate on press freedom in Myanmar, which recently begun a process of democratisation after the last military junta left office.
Since it came to power, the new government chose to "soften" the position of its predecessors and, in doing so, has secured the resumption of humanitarian aid and the lifting of trade sanctions.
But this relaxation is directly connected to the government's attitude to the rights of the country's ethnic groups.
Several pro-independence groups have repeatedly accused the government of using "toxic gas" against them, but failed to produce the evidence.
Still, the current government views journalists as a threat and has tried every which way to present a single face to the outside world concealing its corruption and repression of ethnic minorities.
Even though Myanmar authorities has allowed a free press in the past year after decades of state censorship, the recent wave of arrests and convictions have raised fears of a new upsurge of repression.