The Myanmar Police Force in Letpadan Township attacked the crowd and brutally crushed the peaceful march. As a result, Phyoe Phyoe Aung and scores of other students and their supporters now face lengthy jail terms.

We believe that Eskinder Nega is a “Prisoner of Conscience”, someone who is being detained solely for his peaceful and legitimate activities as a journalist. We therefore call for his, as well as the many other unjustly arrested journalists’, immediate and unconditional release.

Rafael Marques de Morais is an internationally well respected journalist who dared write a book exposing human rights abuses and corruption in the diamond fields in Angola.