Myanmar’s junta cuts filmmaker’s life sentence to 15 years as part of wider amnesty
Shin Daewe had been convicted of violating the country’s Anti-terrorism Law.
Myanmar’s junta has reduced the sentence of journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe from life behind bars to 15 years as part of a larger prisoner amnesty, her family said Thursday.
On Jan. 5, the junta announced that it had shortened the life sentences of 144 people to 15 years in prison to mark the 77th anniversary of Myanmar’s independence from British colonial rule a day earlier.
The reduction was part of a broader amnesty that saw the junta release more than 6,000 inmates, although that number included just a small share of the hundreds of political prisoners jailed for opposing the military’s February 2021 coup d’etat.
Family members confirmed to RFA Burmese on Thursday that Shin Daewe, 50, was among 14 of 48 people serving life sentences in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison who were included in the amnesty.
Known for her work highlighting the challenges facing Myanmar’s environment and the impact of conflict on civilians following the coup, Shin Daewe was arrested on Oct. 15 in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township while picking up a video drone that her husband says she had ordered online to use in filming a documentary.
She was later sentenced to life in prison by the Insein Prison Special Court on Jan. 10, 2024, for violating Myanmar’s Anti-terrorism Law, prompting an outcry from rights groups and members of the media.
Shin Daewe’s husband, Ko Oo told RFA at the time that police had interrogated her for nearly two weeks before charging her and transferring her to Insein Prison, adding that it appeared she had been tortured.
Prolific documentarian
Shin Daewe served as a journalist for the independent Democratic Voice of Burma during Myanmar’s 2007 Saffron Revolution, when the military violently suppressed widespread anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks.
She later released a documentary that helped bring global attention to the revolution — named for the monk’s saffron-colored robes — and ensuing crackdown.
Beginning in 2010, Shin Daewe began making documentaries full time, several of which went on to win awards at local and international film festivals.
In 2013, her documentary “Now I Am 13,” about the life of an uneducated teenage girl in central Myanmar, won a silver medal at the Kota Kinab International Film Festival and won the Best Documentary Award at the Wathann Film Festival a year later.
Other documentaries, including “Brighter Future,” about the Phong Taw Oo monastic education center; “Rahula,” which portrays the story of a sculptor from Mandalay; and “Take Me Home,” about a camp for internally displaced ethnic Kachins, also received recognition at various festivals.
Observers had labeled Shin Daewe’s sentencing part of a bid by the junta to stamp out criticism by using lengthy jail terms to instill fear in opponents.
Shortly after the ruling, the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and the European Film Academy issued a joint statement calling for Shin Daewe’s immediate release.
Before the coup, Myanmar ranked 139th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom index, but dropped to 171st in the media watchdog’s latest rankings – up slightly from 173rd a year ago, which was the worst in the country’s history.
