Jailed journalists
Shin Daewe imprisoned under anti-terror law
Pioneering female filmmaker had life sentence commuted to 15 years in prison
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe’s work took her to some of the most dangerous regions in Myanmar, from farmland wrecked by mining to flood-affected villages.
But since October 2023, she has been in custody on charges of using an unregistered drone. In Myanmar, the charge falls under the country’s anti-terrorism law.
According to the filmmaker’s husband Ko Oo, police arrested Shin Daewe when she went to collect a drone she had ordered for a documentary she was working on.
The 50-year-old, who has worked for RFA’s Burmese Service since 2009, was questioned for two weeks before being charged and held at Insein prison.
Shin Daewe was tried by a secret military tribunal and denied legal assistance, Ko Oo told RFA. He added that his wife showed signs of having been beaten and tortured. “She had stitches on her head and welts on her arms,” he said.
The military tribunal originally sentenced Shin Daewe to life in prison. A prisoner amnesty in January 2025 reduced the sentence to 15 years in prison, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In 2024, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) recognised Shin Daewe with its Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award.
The IWMF said that Shin Daewe’s “most powerful work emerged after the military coup, when she reported from some of the most dangerous areas, documenting villages that were burned down and the killing of hundreds of civilians.”
The filmmaker, who is director of the Yangon Filmschool, is “driven by a deep desire to help others and contribute to society,” the IWMF added.
Shin Daewe has been making documentaries since 2010. Her 2013 film “Now I am 13” about a teenage girl in central Myanmar won silver at the Kota Kinab International Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Wathaan Film Festival, RFA has reported.
The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk describes Shin Daewe as a “pioneering female documentary filmmaker” and notes that the internationally recognized filmmaker “has repeatedly shed a light on social and political issues in her country.”
Last updated March 12, 2026
Shin Daewe
Country: Myanmar
Charge: Illegal possession of an unregistered drone
Sentence: Life sentence
Myanmar
The military coup in February 2021 wiped out a decade of press freedom gains in Myanmar. The junta revoked broadcast licenses, blocked internet access and has jailed dozens of journalists, including a VOA contributor.
Sithu Aung Myint spent more than four years in custody in Myanmar before being freed as part of an amnesty in late 2025. Myanmar continues to detain Shin Daewe, a documentary filmmaker who contributed to Radio Free Asia.
Journalism inside the country is extremely risky, with the threat of jail, attack or torture. Many local media outlets are working from exile. Throughout the coup and subsequent fighting, VOA’s Burmese service was relied on as a credible source of news.