In this photo take on June 16, 2017, Kyaw Min Swe, center, chief editor of The Voice Daily newspaper, is escorted by police during a trial at the town...
In this photo take on June 16, 2017, Kyaw Min Swe, center, chief editor of The Voice Daily newspaper, is escorted by police during a trial at the township court in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s court granted bail to Min Swe on Friday after he was arrested in June along with columnist Kyaw Zwa Naing on June 2 for publishing a satirical printed article that allegedly mocked the country’s military on its efforts to reach a peace agreement with ethnic minority groups. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Kyaw Min Swe, chief editor of The Voice Daily local newspaper, talks to media during a press briefing, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanm...
Kyaw Min Swe, chief editor of The Voice Daily local newspaper, talks to media during a press briefing, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s court granted bail to Min Swe on Friday after he was arrested in June along with the columnist Kyaw Zwa Naing on June 2 for publishing a satirical printed article, that allegedly mocked and questioned the country’s military on its efforts to reach a peace agreement with ethnic minority groups. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
In this photo taken June 30, 2017, journalists and activists standing behind banners as they rally for press freedom in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s cou...
In this photo taken June 30, 2017, journalists and activists standing behind banners as they rally for press freedom in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s court granted bail to Min Swe on Friday after he was arrested in June along with columnist Zwa Naing on June 2, 2017, for publishing a satirical printed article that allegedly mocked the country’s military on its efforts to reach a peace agreement with ethnic minority groups. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Kyaw Min Swe, second left, chief editor of The Voice Daily newspaper, talks to media during a press briefing along withhis lawyer Khin Maung Myint, le...
Kyaw Min Swe, second left, chief editor of The Voice Daily newspaper, talks to media during a press briefing along withhis lawyer Khin Maung Myint, left, columnist Kyaw Zwa Naing, second from right, and his wife, Thiri May Shan Aung, at their office Friday, Aug. 4, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s court granted bail to Min Swe on Friday after he was arrested in June along with columnist Zwa Naing on June 2 for publishing a satirical printed article that allegedly mocked the country’s military on its efforts to reach a peace agreement with ethnic minority groups. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Kyaw Min Swe, chief editor of The Voice Daily local newspaper, talks to media during a press briefing, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanm...
Kyaw Min Swe, chief editor of The Voice Daily local newspaper, talks to media during a press briefing, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s court granted bail to Min Swe on Friday after he was arrested in June along with the columnist Kyaw Zwa Naing on June 2 for publishing a satirical printed article, that allegedly mocked and questioned the country’s military on its efforts to reach a peace agreement with ethnic minority groups. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A court in Myanmar has granted bail to a newspaper editor who is being tried under a controversial defamation statute in a telecommunications law.
Kyaw Min Swe, chief editor of The Voice Daily, was arrested in June for publishing online a satirical article that allegedly mocked the efforts of the military to reach a peace agreement with ethnic minority groups.
His previous requests for bail had been rejected.
He was charged under Article 66(D) of the Telecommunications Law, which broadly defines defamation and carries a penalty of up to three years' imprisonment.
Rights groups decry the article as a restriction on freedom of expression, but the country's parliament this week turned down a bid to drop the article and decriminalize the offense.
