BANGKOK — Three reporters and two activists from Myanmar have been arrested in Thailand for illegal entry and face possible deportation, the reporters’ news organization and local police said on Tuesday. Broadcaster DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) said the five were arrested on Sunday in the northern city of Chiang Mai and it appealed to Thai authorities not to deport them to Myanmar, where the news organization has been banned by the junta. The statement said they had fled the army crackdown in Myanmar since the Feb. 1 coup, during which dozens of journalists have been among thousands of people arrested. DVB and several other independent media organizations had their licenses revoked. Thapanapong Chairangsri, the head of police in the San Sai district outside Chiang Mai, told Reuters that five Myanmar citizens had been arrested for entering the country illegally and would be brought to court on Tuesday.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 11, 2021 02:26 UTC