A popular OnlyFans model was sentenced to six years in jail Monday following her involvement in protests against Myanmar’s military junta.
A military tribunal hammered 34-year-old model Nange Mwe San, a former doctor with a successful OnlyFans account, with a six-year jail sentence for “harming culture and dignity,” according to the independent Burmese news source Democratic Voice of Burma. Radio Free Asia spoke to an unnamed friend of the jailed model, who confirmed the sentence came after a near-month-long trial.
Before her arrest, Nange Mwe San was often outspoken against the military dictatorship that ousted the democratically elected government in February 2021. She was prosecuted by the ruling military dictatorship under Section 33a of Electronic Transactions Law, DVB wrote, based on an interview with an unnamed lawyer close to the case. She had been denied a lawyer and was sentenced in a closed military court. She is the likely first woman to be jailed for ostensibly publishing content to OnlyFans in the country.
According to a report from Vice, Nang Mwe San had uploaded 74 videos and close to 350 images to her OnlyFans account. She had told Vice in a previous report that “Women in this country shouldn’t feel bad about what they are doing.”
A military tribunal sentenced model Nang Mwe San to six years in prison under Sec. 33(a) of the Electronic Transactions Law in Insein Prison on Sept. 27, a lawyer close to the case told DVB. “Both models Thinzar Wint Kyaw and Nang Mwe San are facing the same charges. /1 pic.twitter.com/cpVoE0zqwa
— DVB English (@DVB_English) September 28, 2022
Aung Kyaw Moe, an advisor who works for the shadow government Myanmar’s National Unity Government and self-professed member of the Rohingya community, told Vice that if Nang Mwe San “is not free to exercise her rights to sell sexy photos, no other woman is free to exercise their rights.”
The Section 33a statute broadly threatens users with jail time for actions “detrimental to security of the state or prevalence of law and order or community peace and tranquility or national solidarity or national economy or national culture.” The law was put in place in 2004 by the country’s previous military dictatorship but had never been repealed, according to a 2013 report by Human Rights Watch. It has had a chilling effect on internet speech, especially for those who post adult content online.
Because Nang Mwe San is from the North Dagon township, which lingers under martial law for ongoing protests against the military junta, she was hit with a quick sentence by the military itself, according to DVB.
We want justice pic.twitter.com/4gCsuvt9Ba
— Nang Mwe San (@NannMweSan) February 4, 2021
The independent media organisation Myanmar Now reported in August, based on Junta-controlled media reports, that the military government had arrested Nang Mwe San at the same time as film actor Thinszar Wint Kyaw, who is facing the same charges. The latter also reportedly posted pictures of herself on Exantria, a site similar to OnlyFans that’s popular in Myanmar. Nang Mwe San was also active on Exantria, but since Thinzar Wint Kyaw was from a province not under martial law, her case is being tried in civil court, according to Radio Free Asia.
But as much as the country’s military dictatorship wants to make this a case about Burmese culture, human rights groups and anti-Myanmar junta activists have condemned the arrests and sentencing as politically motivated. Thinszar Wint Kyaw had previously been seen at a wedding wearing a uniform of the Shan State Progressive Party, a guerilla outfit that’s battled on and off with Myanmar’s military for years.
Model Thinzar Wint Kyaw got arrested by the junta today at a check point. Recently she did a documentary shooting and attended a wedding by wearing uniform of SSPP , an EAO in fightings with the junta . pic.twitter.com/qDsajECtnc
— Aung Kyaw Moe (@akmoe2) July 6, 2022
An unnamed Burmese lawyer cited by RFA decried the ruling, saying, “Myanmar’s culture will not benefit” from these arrests. The lawyer added that Section 33 of the ECA is too vague of what’s considered “harmful” to the country’s culture.
Post-coup, the Burmese military has arrested approximately 15,586 people and killed another 2,326, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The ruling junta has continued its genocidal rampage against the Muslim-majority Rohingya people that started in 2016 under the democratic government.