A man from New Zealand and two Burmese men have been handed a prison sentence by a court in Myanmar for “insulting Buddhism”, after they posted a flyer on their Facebook page advertising for their bar, showing Buddha with his eyes shut, wearing large headphones.
Ye Lwin, judge at the Bahan Township courthouse, said that though the men had apoligised, they had "intentionally plotted to insult religious belief" when posting the flyer on social media.
Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson criticised the verdict saying "by using the Religion Act to criminalise these three individuals, rather than accepting an apology and dealing with it in another way, the government is, sort of, setting up more witch hunts against persons that these Buddhist groups view as being insulting to their religion”.
"What this shows is freedom of expression is under greater threat than ever in Burma (Myanmar) just as the country heads into a pivotal election year," added Mr Robertson.
New Zealander Philip Blackwood announced he would appeal the ruling, stating, "I have said that I was sorry so many times". His lawyer, Mya Tway, also told the media,
"It will be difficult to say whether this verdict is fair or not because this is Myanmar, not like other democratic countries… That's all I can say."
See our earlier post:
Trial begins for men held in Burma for 'insulting Buddhism' (18 Dec 2014)
Burmese court detains 3 men for posting online flyer depicting Buddha(11 Dec 2014)