While this month we are all free and happy to blog away for NaBloPoMo, one blogger out there has been imprisoned for doing just that.
I stumbled upon Nay Phone Latt's story, through a breaking news story on The Age. A Burmese blogger, Nay Phone Latt, has been 'jailed for 20 years' according to the story, for posting a message about the regime in Burma.
Reportedly, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's party until his arrest, Nay Phone Latt had been missing for most of this year.
So hard to know what is the truth, coming out of such restricted places like Burma. But the mere thought of being jailed for years, let along 20, for blogging a story, a poem, or even - god forbid - opinion, is a very, very frightening one.
I was in China and it is the same there; couldn't even get the BBC online, they had banned access to it. You know that joke, if you want the CIA on your doorstep, just type into Google "arms terrorists Obama," well in China it is true. They will arrive on your doorstep, literally. They have 30,000 people in their police force whose job it is to sit and monitor the internet.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your WTBAY day. It is a bit scary when you think about what can happen in some countries for expressing an opinion.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I tend to self-censor anyway - but I don't have to. I like that.