Myanmar jails TRT World journalists

A MYANMAR court jailed two journalists from Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT World, along with their interpreter and driver, for two months on Friday for violating an aircraft law that does not allow filming with a drone.

Cameraman Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and reporter Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia were detained on Oct. 27 along with their Myanmar interpreter, Aung Naing Soe, and driver, Hla Tin.

The four had been working on a documentary for TRT World, the Englishlanguage subsidiary of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), when they were detained for attempting to fly a drone near the Myanmar parliament building in the capital, Naypyitaw.

In a statement released on Oct. 31, TRT World said that Myanmar authorities were informed about its crew’s filming plans. “Our crew wanted to film the parliament building in the capital with a drone after conducting an interview with a member of parliament. They were detained by security officials before flying the drone,” the TRT World statement said. “Mok Choy Lin and Lau Hon Meng arrived in Yangon on Oct. 21 with journalist visas issued by the Myanmar government. They shot in various locations with conventional cameras as well as with a drone up until Oct. 27. The Myanmar Information Ministry was previously informed about all of the filming activities and the filming schedule,” the statement on the broadcaster’s website said.