Myanmar junta chokes information flow as protests against military takeover intensify

Yangon: Two more journalists were detained in Myanmar on Friday, part of the junta's intensifying efforts to choke off information about resistance to last month's coup.

Mizzima News reported that one of its former reporters, Than Htike Aung, and Aung Thura, a journalist from the BBC's Burmese-language service, were detained by men who appeared to be plainclothes security agents outside a court in the capital of Naypyitaw.

The journalists were there to cover legal proceedings against Win Htein, a detained senior official from the National League for Democracy, the party that ran the country before the takeover.

The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. In the face of persistent strikes and protests against the takeover, the junta has responded with an increasingly violent crackdown and efforts to severely limit information reaching the outside world.

Security forces have fired on crowds, killing hundreds, internet access has been severely restricted, private newspapers have been barred from publishing, and protesters, journalists and politicians have been arrested in large numbers.

About 40 journalists have been arrested since the Feb. 1 coup, with roughly half still in detention, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press.

A statement from the BBC said it is extremely concerned that Aung Thura had been taken away by unidentified men. The BBC takes the safety of all its staff in Myanmar very seriously and we are doing everything we can to find Aung Thura, the organization said, adding that he was an accredited journalist with many years of reporting experience. It called on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe.

The reporters were taken into custody a day after Kyi Toe, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy, was arrested, according to a Facebook post by Phyo Zeya Thaw, a party official.