Reuters journalist Wa Lone departs court after being sentenced to seven years in jail in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday. Photo: REUTERS world
SEPTEMBER 3rd, 2018
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
Reuters Journalists Jailed in Myanmar
Today, Monday the 3rd of September, a Myanmar judge in Yangon had found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets, leading to their confirmed 7 years imprisonment. This decision was made with little remorse, despite the defendants’ allegations that they had been set up, or ‘framed’ as one might call it.
“The defendants ... have breached Official Secrets Act section 3.1.c, and are sentenced to seven years,” the judge said, making sure to add the fact that the time already served since they had been arguably unlawfully detained on Dec 12 would be taken into consideration as well.
The Reuters journalists themselves - Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, and Wa Lone, 32, both recent fathers, had been charged with breeching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they apparently knowingly somehow obtained confidential state documents.
The journalists pleaded ‘not guilty’ and had explained to the court that two police officials had personally handed them the papers whilst they were at leisure in a restaurant in the city of Yangon, not at all long before other officers had arrived and arrested them. They believe the documents were purposefully planted on them as they were investigating Myanmar’s Rakhine State spikes in violence.
The assigned Judge Ye Lwin read out a witness testimony to the court, before delivering his verdict upon the two. He stated that the documents in their possession would have been valuable “to enemies of the state and terrorist organisations”, practically paying no mind to their own protests, under the argument that the material they carried was “not public information”.
As he left the court, Wa Lone shook hands with supporters, telling them to feel no fear. “We know what we did. We know we did nothing wrong, so have nothing to fear. I believe in justice, democracy and freedom,” he stated to the surrounding journalists and reporters. “What I want to say to the government is: you can put us in jail, but do not close the eyes and ears of the people,” his accomplice, Kyaw Soe Oo also said, expressing the very same passionate beliefs that they had done nothing wrong, nor defiant to the law.
In a recent statement, Reuters editor in chief Stephen J Adler said “Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere,” he continued on; “We will not wait while Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo suffer this injustice and will evaluate how to proceed in the coming days, including whether to seek relief in an international forum.”
US ambassador Scot Marciel, having attended the hearing, said he felt sorrow for the two journalists and for all of Myanmar, “It’s deeply troubling ... one has to ask will this process increase or decrease the confidence the people of Myanmar have in their justice system,” he told reporters.
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay stated that the courts were autonomous, and that everything had been performed as in accordance to the law, though he refused to give any more statements and stayed mainly silent throughout the course of the proceedings.
“The United Nations has consistently called for the release of the Reuters journalists and urged the authorities to respect their right to pursue freedom of expression and information.” Said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar: Knut Ostby, expressing his own disapproval of the overall results of the trial. “A free press is essential for peace, justice and human rights for all. We are disappointed by today’s court decision.”
Myanmar has denied the allegations of the killing and abuses of 10 Rohingya men and boys, along with other accusations made by refugees against the country’s security forces. These were the very allegations investigated by the two journalists in the village of Inn Din, located in the Rakhine State. The military did confirm the 10 Rohingya killings, however, after the arrest of the journalists. This, along with the UN’s mandated fact-finding mission last week had indeed confirmed that Myanmar’s military performed large-scale slaughters and rapes of Muslim Rohingya; an act of possible attempted genocide against the country’s Islamic community.
The United States, the European Union and Canada have placed sanctions on the Myanmar military as well as the country’s police officers over the transgression, meanwhile the International Criminal Court (ICC) is still in discussions over whether or not it has jurisdiction over the events that transpired in the Rakhine State.
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
©2018 THE WORLD DAILY
