Rohingya reporting journalists set free in Myanmar

TWO JOURNALISTS – Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29 – who worked for Reuters in Myanmar have today been unexpectedly freed from prison. It is thought that the international campaign in their defence forced their release.

The articles which the two journalists wrote led to criminal charges and a conviction – but it was initially the Myanmar military which was put on trial, rather than the journalists. The military had always denied being involved in persecuting the Rohingya and had even staged investigations of its own actions – which concluded that the armed forces had done nothing wrong. However, the patient research of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, full of testimony from eye witnesses, proved the opposite – and led to them being awarded a Pullitzer prize for their jounalism. Criminal charges were laid against the soldiers who had committed some of the outrages: the soldiers were tried, convicted and jailed.

In retribution for having to scapegoat some of its men as “bad apples”, the military set up the two journalists. They arranged a meeting, passed documents too them – and then arrested them for having the documents in their possession, contrary to the Official Secrets Act. A police witness confirmed, during the trial of the two journalists, that the military had set them up. Nonetheless, the courts convicted the two journalists, and sentenced them to seven years in prison.

The journalists appealed against their sentence – losing the final appeal, to the Supreme court, just days ago. As the two headed back to jail, Amnesty International spearheaded an international campaign of protest over Myanmar’s attempts to silence them. It seems to be this campaign which has pressured the Myanmar military and the Government of Aung San Su Kyi – herself a former political prisoner – to give up and include Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in the New Year mass presidential pardon, so the two could be released.

The two journalists were jubilant over being released and being able to see their families – and immediately said that they were looking forward to returning to work. However, they had to spend 18 months in jail for the “crime” of lawfully exposing the brutality of the military against the Rohingya people, and Amnesty International warns that other journalists and political activists have been jailed since Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested.

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