For weeks, he had been documenting protests in Yangon against the military coup.

Journalist Ye Wint Thu was already on the run when his name and photo appeared on a wanted list broadcast by Myanmar's military junta.

For weeks, he had been documenting protests in Yangon against the military coup. But in early March, after a colleague was violently arrested in the south of the country, and the junta revoked the licenses of five prominent media organizations, his included, he got word that he should go into hiding.
"I got a call from my source saying I should run right now because they are going to arrest you tonight," said Ye Wint Thu, who is in his late 30s.
He stuffed what he could into bags — his laptops, work projects and important documents — and fled with his wife.
Since then, they have stayed with friends, family and colleagues, moving each night to evade the security forces who regularly conduct nighttime raids of suspected safe houses.Ye Wint Thu's story is not a one-off. Journalists across Myanmar are being attacked by the military junta merely for doing their jobs. More than 80 journalists have been arrested since the coup on February 1, with more than half of those still in detention, according to a statement from Western embassies in Myanmar.
Offices of newspapers and online media have been raided. A nightly news bulletin on state TV broadcasts the names and images of those sought by the junta. Many of them, like Ye Wint Thu, are journalists.
Some have been hauled off to secretive military interrogation centers and charged with crimes under section 505a — a law amended by the military that makes it a crime punishable by up to three years in prison for publishing or circulating comments that "cause fear" or spread "false news."
Braving bullets and potential torture if they are captured, Myanmar's reporters are continuing to expose alleged atrocities by the junta against its own people. And alongside the muzzled media, citizen journalists are taking great risks to gather information, while activists secretly publish and distribute revolutionary newsletters and pamphlets.
"What's happening in Myanmar is a humanitarian crisis of the press," said Shawn Crispin, senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "As global condemnation of the coup rose, it's becoming clear that the [military junta] want to suppress the news and to suppress coverage on what they're doing to the pro democracy demonstrators. And so they're going after the press."
'I could die on the street'
Before the coup on February 1, Ye Wint Thu traveled around Myanmar producing and anchoring a current affairs TV program for independent media outlet Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). Now, he said, most journalists and editors he knows have gone underground as it's too dangerous to be on the streets.
"I could die on the street. Someone could shoot at me or I could get arrested. On the streets, there's a lot of informants and a lot of people who I don't know, so I might get killed," he said.
During one crackdown in Yangon's Hledan, a district which had become a flashpoint for protests, Ye Wint Thu described running from security forces who were shooting at protesters. He sought shelter in a migrant hostel.
"I had to hide in a small bedroom because the soldiers and police were shooting and were trying to catch people on the streets," he said.
Despite knowing that he's wanted by the junta, Ye Wint Thu said he won't stop working."Most of the journalists are on the run, like me. They can't do their jobs freely," he said. "All I can do now is conduct interviews here and make phone calls ... We can't stop, it's really important for the people of Burma," he said, using another name for Myanmar.
In downtown Yangon, DVB's office has been sealed shut. The staff managed to recover essential broadcast equipment but the once buzzing newsroom, like most media offices in the city, remains empty. Police regularly check the premises to make sure they aren't broadcasting.
The morning of the coup, DVB was taken off the air along with all other independent TV channels. The news organization switched to broadcasting via satellite but the junta issued an order for citizens to remove the PSI satellite dishes that carried their channel.
Now, while they look for another satellite to broadcast from, DVB is relying on getting information out via its website and YouTube pages, as well through Facebook where it has 14 million followers.
"We never stopped, not even for a single day," said Toe Zaw Latt, DVB's operations director who recently fled the city.Upon seizing power, the military cut all access to mobile data and wireless broadband, and until last week completely shut down the internet each night. Toe Zaw Latt said the junta's attempt to control all media and communication has created an "information vacuum" in the country, which it attempts to fill with military propaganda.
Journalists move carefully through a network of safe houses, plotting their routes before they go out to avoid military checkpoints. If they're stopped, security forces search their phones and cameras — any images of protests or the ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi can be cause for arrest.
"Every day, once you decide to leave, you know that you may never make it back to your room or your safe house. But it is your decision," Toe Zaw Latt said.