101 East

Myanmar: Free and Fair?

Ahead of Myanmar’s historic election, we meet activists refusing to buckle under a campaign of harassment and arrest.

Standing by her husband’s grave, Ma Thanda is looking for answers.

It has been one year since her spouse, a journalist and activist, disappeared while in military custody.

Meanwhile, Po Po, a student protest organiser, is still reeling from one of Myanmar’s bloodiest crackdowns in years. After attacking her fellow demonstrators in March, police filed dubious charges that could land her in prison for nine years.

Myanmar is set to hold what is could be the country’s first legitimate election in half a decade. But government hardliners are waging their own hidden campaign to silence dissidents. And the law is on their side.

101 East meets activists being harassed, arrested and imprisoned in plain sight, setting back Myanmar’s march toward democratic freedom.

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