Paris, France and Frankfurt, Germany, 16 July 2015
For immediate release
Dr Aung’s car was attacked by slingshot-wielding men who witnesses reported were waiting along his route home at a point where traffic is regularly at a standstill. The vehicle’s windows were broken but Dr Aung was unharmed.
The men and three accomplices fled the scene shortly after the incident.
“Such an assault will not deter us from our on-going efforts and commitment to journalistic standards at Eleven Media Group,” said Dr Aung.
Dr Than Htut Aung is the laureate of the 2013 WAN-IFRA Golden Pen of Freedom [1]. He and his editorial staff have campaigned for transparency and government accountability against a repressive political atmosphere since the media group was founded 15 years ago.
The attack comes weeks after contempt of court charges [2] were filed against 17 Eleven Media Group journalists for news coverage of a separate trial involving five of its senior employees – including Dr Aung - who are facing charges of defamation following the publication of a report detailing possible corruption within the Ministry of Information.
“We strongly condemn this attack and call on the Myanmar authorities to launch a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice,” said a statement from WAN-IFRA. “We commend Dr Aung for his courage and determined commitment to a democratic Myanmar, and support his efforts to encourage a functioning free and independent news media in the country.”
For more information on WAN-IFRA’s press freedom work, visit http://www.wan-ifra.org/pressfreedom [3]
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Frankfurt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore and India, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.
Inquiries to: Andrew Heslop, Director, Press Freedom, WAN-IFRA, 96 bis, rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 29. Fax: +33 1 42 78 92 33. Email: andrew.heslop@wan-ifra.org [4]
