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31
May 2005
The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
today welcomed the lifting of the ban on the Mizzima
website in Burma, terming it a move in the right
direction.
"For
the citizens of Burma, living under a repressive
military regime, the access to independent information
is one step closer to gaining more democratic
freedoms," said IFJ President Christopher
Warren.
According
to information received by the IFJ, the ban on
www.mizzima.com
was quietly lifted by the Burmese authorities
recently. Although the exact reason and the date
of lifting the ban is not available, since about
the third week of May, people from Burma can now
directly read Mizzima News on the Internet.
Earlier,
those inside Burma browsing www.mizzima.com
would find the following page: "Access has
been denied. You are seeing this error because
the page you attempted to access contains, or
is labelled as containing, material that has been
deemed inappropriate."
"Inappropriateness"
in the context of Burma is not pornographic content
or incitement to terrorism, but the threat to
the military junta posed by an independent news
agency run by Burmese journalists, focusing on
Burma's current situation and related issues,
including the human rights violation in Burma.
Burma,
which has been under successive military regimes
for more than four decades, is deprived from accessing
the World Wide Web. The now abolished military
intelligence was known for strict monitoring of
Internet access.
While
exact reasons for the lifting of the ban are not
known, some journalists in Rangoon have in recent
days noted signs of change in the government's
attitude towards media, which is otherwise under
tight control of the military government. Other
websites previously banned in Burma, have also
started recently functioning. These websites include
RSF's www.rsf.org
and the website of Burmese media people in-exile,
www.bma-online.net
(Burma Media Association).
Sceptics
in the country believe that these websites are
now accessible more because of technical errors
on the part of the Internet Server Controller,
rather than any shift in the government policy.
Websites
that continue to be banned include www.irrawaddy.org,
www.khitpyaing.org, www.burmaproject.org
and www.burmalibrary.org are still banned
by the authorities in the country. The Bangkok
Post (www.bangkokpost.com), which is critical
of the Burmese military regime, is also blocked.
Meanwhile,
Burmese authorities granted licenses in mid-May
for publication of at least four journals, including
a weekly, Yangon Post to be run by Myat Khine,
editor of The Good News (Kaung Tha Din).
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