The Myanmar military launched a crackdown on media freedom as part of a coup d’état on 1 February 2021, persecuting journalists and rolling back a decade of legal reforms. ICNL has built a large case database of detained journalists, cross-corroborating multiple civil society monitoring efforts, and complementing them with an analysis of the legal status of cases.

Of the 227 Journalists detained:

20

Were still imprisoned by August 2026

100

Were sentenced to a combined 549 years in prison

23%

Were given extreme sentences of 10 to 27 years in prison

207

Have been released so far, after an average of 10 months in prison each

101

Media outlets had journalists detained; 54 had journalists sentenced

Women

Faced higher charge and conviction rates

Over the past five years, the military has detained over 220 journalists from over 100 media outlets, charging 181 with a crime under 10 separate laws, mainly incitement, “false news”, and weaponized counter-terrorism provisions.

The military’s sham courts have ignored domestic and international law and disregarded due process, sentencing 100 journalists so far to a combined total of 549 years imprisonment, with individual terms up to 27 years long. At least 20 journalists were languishing in prison by the end of August 2026, causing a chilling effect across the media and presenting severe challenges to media outlets’ resources, capacity, and morale. 

Despite all of this, Myanmar’s journalists and media outlets remain bravely committed to building a robust information ecosystem for a public desperately seeking to know the truth about military oppression. 

Stakeholders, including the United Nations internationally and within Myanmar, should strengthen support for detained journalists and media, who play a critical role in the democratization movement. Now is also the time for the development of reform proposals for a legitimate government to roll back the military’s attacks on the rights to freedom of expression and association. 

Prior versions of the report: