Myanmar demonstrators who bang pots and pans in protest at last year's coup can be charged with high treason, the junta warned Tuesday, days ahead of the putsch's one-year anniversary.

The February 1 coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government and sent the Southeast Asian country into turmoil, with the economy in freefall and nearly 1,500 civilians dead in a crackdown on dissent.

Almost a year on the junta is struggling to break resistance to its rule, with "People's Defence Forces" (PDF) clashing regularly with its troops in many areas.

The military has declared all PDF groups, as well as a shadow "National Unity Government" (NUG) dominated by lawmakers from Suu Kyi's party, as "terrorists".

In a statement on Tuesday it said that PDF groups and the NUG had been encouraging people to "destroy state stability... by performing silent strikes, clapping, banging pots and pans, car honking and etc".

Those engaging in noisy protests "or who share propaganda" against the military could be charged with high treason under the anti-terrorism law or with agitating against the military, it added.

Since the coup, cities and towns across Myanmar have periodically rung with the sounds of banging pots and pans -- a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits.

In December a "Silent Strike" emptied cities and towns across the country as protesters marked Human Rights Day.

Treason and terror offences carry sentences ranging from three years in jail to death -- although Myanmar has not carried out a judicial execution in decades.

Since the coup nearly 1,500 people have been killed by security forces and over 11,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.

On Tuesday Human Rights Watch called for sanctions to block foreign currency payments to the junta from Myanmar's lucrative natural gas industry.

The statement came days after energy giants TotalEnergies and Chevron said they would leave the country following pressure from human rights groups to cut financial ties with the military junta.

"Natural gas revenue to the junta will continue because other companies will take over their operations," said John Sifton, the rights group's Asia advocacy director.

Thailand's state-owned PTT and South Korea's POSCO, "the two main energy companies remaining in Myanmar, should signal their support for such measures", he said.

"Junta leaders are not going to turn away from their brutality and oppression unless governments impose more significant financial pressure on them."

Three arrested at Myanmar media outlet released: employer
Yangon (AFP) Jan 25, 2022 - Myanmar junta authorities have released three local media workers arrested in nighttime raids last week, their employer said on Tuesday.

The military has squeezed the press since taking power in a coup last year, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown, which has killed almost 1,500 people according to a local monitoring group.

Local outlet Dawei Watch said three of its employees arrested in separate raids in the southern city of Dawei on the night of January 18 had "been released" on Tuesday afternoon.

"We really thank all of you who supported us during their detention," it added, without giving details on why the trio had been released or the reason for their arrest.

Two of the three are journalists and the third a web designer, an editor at the outlet told AFP, adding none of the three had been charged.

Since the coup, 115 journalists have been arrested, according to local monitoring group Reporting ASEAN, with 44 still in prison. One has died in custody, according to the group.

Only China jailed more reporters than Myanmar last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Several foreign journalists have been detained, including US citizen Danny Fenster, who was jailed for 11 years in November before being pardoned and released days later.

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Myanmar sentences lawmaker from Suu Kyi's party to death: statement
Yangon (AFP) Jan 21, 2022
Myanmar's junta sentenced a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted party to death for terror offences on Friday, a statement said. Phyo Zeyar Thaw, a member of the National League for Democracy arrested in November, was "sentenced to the death penalty today under anti-terrorism act", the junta said. Prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu - better known as "Jimmy" - received the same sentence from the military tribunal, the junta statement said. The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup ac ... read more