Nay Phone Latt

Nay Phone Latt (Burmese: နေဘုုန်းလတ်; born Nay Myo Kyaw in 1980) is a Burmese blogger and activist who was a recipient of PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award^[1] and selected for 2010 Time 100 list under Hero Categories.^[2] From 2008 to 2012, he was detained at Hpa-An Prison and was listed as a political prisoner by Assistance Association for Political Prisoners of Burma.^[3]

Nay Phone Latt graduated with Engineering degree from Yangon Technological University. He worked in Singapore for a few years before he went back to Myanmar to start his Internet Cafe business. He was arrested in January 2008 and sentenced to total of 20 years and 6 months in prison under Electronic act, creating public alarm and video act due to his alleged involvement in spreading news during 2007 Burmese anti-government protests using his blogs.^[4] He wrote regularly in a Burmese internet magazine Thanlwin Ainmat (သံလွင်အိမ်မက်, Dream of Salween River) and his personal blog, The City that I have dropped (ကနော်လွတ်ကျခဲ့တဲ့မြို့တော်) before he was arrested. On February 20, 2009, his sentence was reduced on appeal to 12 years.^[5]

In 2010, Nay Phone Latt was awarded the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, which honors "writers who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression".^[5]

Nay Phone Latt was released on 13 January 2012 as part of a mass presidential pardon of political prisoners.^[6]

Nay Phone Latt is also a co-founder of Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO)MIDO, a local NGO focusing on ICT for Development, Internet Freedom and Civic Technology.

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