Myanmar using 'oppressive laws' against peaceful critics

International Desk: The Myanmar government under Aung San Suu Kyi has continued using oppressive, military rule-era laws to prosecute peaceful critics, quashing hopes the country's first democratic leader in decades would safeguard free speech, according to a damning new report by a prominent rights group.

Freedom of expression has been worsening since the Nobel peace laureate's administration took office in 2016, with prosecutions creating a "climate of fear" among journalists, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday.

"Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy promised a new Myanmar but the government still prosecutes peaceful speech and protests and has failed to revise old oppressive laws," Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at HRW and the report's author, said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from the Myanmar government. _Aljazeera


risingbd/Dhaka/February 01, 2019/AKA