Singapore Embassy assisting Singaporean journalist detained in Myanmar

SINGAPORE — The Singapore Embassy in Yangon is providing the necessary consular assistance to detained Singaporean journalist Lau Hon Meng, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a media release on Monday night (Oct 30).

“The Singapore Embassy is in contact with the Myanmar authorities over Mr Lau’s detention… and is closely monitoring developments to ensure that due process is accorded to Mr Lau,” said the MFA.

The MFA said that the Singapore Embassy in Yangon was notified by the Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr Lau, 43, had been detained by Myanmar authorities for unauthorised recording of the Hluttaw building (House of Representatives) by drone last Friday (Oct 27), and that investigation against him is ongoing.

The MFA added that they are in close contact with Mr Lau’s family as well.

Mr Lau and his Malaysian colleague, Mok Choy Lin, 47, were arrested on Friday and subsequently charged for allegedly flying drones illegally over and around the government’s parliament buildings in Naypyitaw.

They are both working for Turkish Radio and Television Corporation and were detained along with their local interpreter and freelance journalist Aung Naing Soe. Their driver, a local, was also arrested.

A state-run newspaper said the journalists intended to take photos of parliament buildings and pagodas in the capital when security guards spotted them.

They will be held in custody until their first court hearing on charges that carry up to three years in jail or a fine for the import and export of “restricted or banned goods” without obtaining a license. The trial would begin at the end of a 15-day remand.

“We have opened a case against all four – two foreigners and two Burmese. They will be held on remand until Nov 10,” deputy police colonel Kyaw Moe told AFP.

Police officer San Aung said their drone was imported without permission.

The detained journalists and driver have not been allowed to see family members since their arrest.

The incident comes as tensions surge between Myanmar and Turkey, which has led criticism of the Southeast Asian nation for its treatment of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Myanmar of incubating “Buddhist terror” and carrying out a genocide against the Muslim group.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since late August, running from burning villages they say were set alight by soldiers and Buddhist mobs.

Several journalists have been arrested in Myanmar this year, fueling fears of an erosion of the press freedoms that blossomed after the end of junta rule in 2011.

Many have been charged with defamation or arrested for reporting on armed rebel groups.