Aung Pwint is a Burmese journalist and documentary maker notable for his 1999 imprisonment by the State Peace and Development Council

State Peace and Development Council

The State Peace and Development Council was the official name of the military regime of Burma , which seized power in 1988. On 30 March 2011, Senior General Than Shwe signed a decree to officially dissolve the Council....

 (SPDC), Burma's military government, on charges of fax-machine ownership and "sending news".

Documentary work

Aung Pwint was first arrested by authorities in 1967 and detained for a year; Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

 attributes this arrest to his "contacts with the rebellious student movement". In 1978, he was arrested again and held this time for seventeen months.

During 1988's widespread pro-democracy protests

8888 Uprising

The 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests was a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma...

 against the rule of General Ne Win

Ne Win

Ne Win was Burmese a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981...

, Aung Pwint acted as joint secretary for the People's Peaceful Demonstration Committee of the Delta

Irrawaddy Delta

The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Ayeyarwady Region , the lowest expanse of land in Burma that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, 290 km to the south at the mouth of the Ayeyarwady River...

 region. Following the repression of the protests, he joined a media group to produce videos and calendars documenting the lives of Burma's ordinary people. These documentaries were banned by the SPDC (then known as SLORC, the State Law and Order Restoration Council) in 1996 "because they were considered to show too negative a picture of Burmese society and living standards".

Aung Pwint continued to film, however. Even as he earned a living making videos for tourist agencies and educational companies, he also produced further documentaries on topics such as poverty and forced labour. These videos were then circulated inside and outside Burma via clandestine networks. During this time, he began to work with fellow poet and filmmaker Thaung Tun, better known by his pen name of Nyein Thit.

1999 arrest and imprisonment

On November 4, 1999, Aung Pwint and Nyein Thit were arrested. The official charges against Aung Pwint were "illegal possession of a fax machine" and "sending news" to banned newspapers. The two men were tried together and given eight-year prison sentences; Aung Pwint served his at Tharawaddy Prison.

As a result of Aung Pwint's confinement, his family was reportedly severely impoverished. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 also reported that he suffered from a gastric ulcer in prison and that his health was at risk. Following what The Irrawaddy

The Irrawaddy

This article is about a newsmagazine. For other uses of the term, please see Irrawaddy.For the Second World War battle honour, see Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations...

described as an "intensive international campaign" for his freedom, he was released as part of an "special amnesty" for journalists in July 2005, so unexpectedly that he had to call his family on the way home from the prison to report that he had been freed. Nyein Thit remained imprisoned until 4 January 2007, serving nearly his full eight-year sentence, despite allegedly suffering a "brain ailment" as a result of his confinement.

International attention

Amnesty International protested Aung Pwint's arrest and called for his release, the former naming him a prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...

. In 2001, Human Rights Watch named him the recipient of a Hellman

Lillian Hellman

Lillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...

/Hammett

Dashiell Hammett

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...

 Grant for writers "in recognition of the courage with which [he] faced political persecution".

In 2004, Aung Pwint and Nyein Thit won the International Press Freedom Award

CPJ International Press Freedom Awards

The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honour journalists around the world who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment. Created in 1991, the awards are administered by the Committee to Protect Journalists....

 of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists

Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...

. A Washington Post editorial following the awards described the pair as "heroes of press freedom".