UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay condemns killing of reporter Sai Win Aung, calls for full investigation

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has condemned the killing of reporter Sai Win Aung, in Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, Myanmar, near the border with Thailand on 25 December 2021. She called upon the authorities to conduct a full investigation of the killing.

"I condemn the killing of Sai Win Aung. Media workers like Sai Win Aung risk their lives to keep the public informed. Their work deserves to be recognized and their safety protected in line with international humanitarian law, which forbids attacks on civilians", Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General said, UNESCO published in a statement.

Earlier, Paris-based NGO--Reporters Without Borders-- called on the international community to toughen its sanctions on Myanmar's military junta after Sai Win Aung who was covering the plight of refugees in the southeastern state of Kayin was killed during an army artillery attack near the border with Thailand.

Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung, also known as A Sai K, was the second journalist to die as a result of the junta's violence in less than two weeks.

He was killed instantly by a gunshot in Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, a town in Myawaddy district, during an artillery attack by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's armed forces, against members of the People's Defence Force (PDF), which has been offering armed resistance to the junta.

"Sai Wing Aung paid with his life for his determination to provide his fellow citizens with coverage of the terror that the armed forces have been inflicting on Myanmar's population since last February's military coup," said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk.

"He died a hero and his fight must not be in vain. We urge the international community to impose new targeted sanctions on members of the ruling junta in order to end the current escalation in terror.", he added.

Freelance photographer Soe Naing was the first journalist to die at the junta's hands. Held since 10 December and badly injured during interrogation, he died of his injuries on 14 December, as RSF reported the same day. Soldiers had arrested him while he was covering a silent street protest in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city.

Earlier, In its annual round-up of abusive treatment and violence against journalists published, RSF reported that a record number of journalists are being detained worldwide at the end of 2021 and that Myanmar has become the world's second-biggest jailer of journalists, after China.

Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index that RSF published in early 2021.

( With inputs from ANI )

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