"THE WASHINGTON POST"
By Cape Diamond and Timothy McLaughlin
January 11
YANGON, Myanmar — A court in Myanmar is set to rule Friday in the appeal of two Reuters journalists jailed last year for violating the country’s colonial-era secrets law in a case that drew widespread condemnation from rights groups, foreign governments and media watchdogs as an attack on the free press.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were sentenced in September to seven years in jail by a district court after a months-long trial that saw a key witness for the prosecution allege in court their arrests were a set-up. The two journalists were reporting on the situation of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, nearly a million of whom have fled the country.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were sentenced in September to seven years in jail by a district court after a months-long trial that saw a key witness for the prosecution allege in court their arrests were a set-up. The two journalists were reporting on the situation of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, nearly a million of whom have fled the country.
High Court Judge Aung Naing called the original conviction a “suitable ruling.”
Than Zaw Aung, the lawyer for the two men, said outside the courthouse,
that “the judgment is very disappointing, not just for the journalists,
but for the rule of law here.” Neither of the men were present at the
court.
The conviction can still be appealed to the Supreme
Court of Myanmar, the country’s final court of appeals, which is located
in the capital. Than Zaw Aung said that he needed to discuss Friday’s
decision with the families before deciding on whether to file a final
appeal.
Reuters editor in chief Stephen J. Adler described the ruling as the latest injustice visited on the two men.
“They remain behind bars for one reason: those in
power sought to silence the truth,” he said in a statement. “Reporting
is not a crime, and until Myanmar rights this terrible wrong, the press
in Myanmar is not free, and Myanmar’s commitment to rule of law and
democracy remains in doubt.”
Friday’s decision
came despite substantial international pressure. Vice President Pence
pressed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi multiple times about releasing
the journalists during a mid-November meeting in Singapore, according to
White House officials.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Yangon High
Court upheld the convictions of journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo
today, said Aryani Manring, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon.
“A free and independent press should be protected in any democracy.”
Maja Kocijancic, the E.U. spokeswoman for foreign affairs, said the court’s decision was a “setback to media freedom.”
“The ruling casts serious doubt over the independence of Myanmar’s justice system,” she said.
A
pardon for the two could also be issued by President Win Myint. He
would likely need the blessing of Suu Kyi, who is barred by the
constitution from serving as president and instead effectively leads the
government in the role of State Counsellor. She has previous defended
the jailing.
Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the government, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Friday.
“It’s very sad,” said Chit Su Win, Kyaw Soe Oo’s
wife. “We were even hoping to go and see them at the jail when they were
released today.”
The
two were charged with a violation of the Official Secrets Act. Press
freedom groups and activists say it is still used to muzzle independent
reporting the Southeast Asian nation, despite the once military-ruled
country now having a quasi-civilian government.
Violation
of the law carries a maximum of 14 years in prison. At the time of
their arrest in early December 2017, the two were reporting on the
massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in Rakhine
state on Myanmar’s west coast.
Suu Kyi, a
Nobel laureate, defended their jailing last year, saying that the two
“were not jailed because they were journalists,” and that the ruling
came from an “open court.” The judge, however, wrote in his ruling that
the two were in possession of sensitive documents only because they were
working as reporters.
Win Htein, a confidant of Suu Kyi and a senior
member of her own party, said he suspected the case was a setup, calling
it a “trap.”
Police officers asked the Reuters
journalists to meet them on the night of Dec. 12, 2017, when they were
handed rolled-up documents. Shortly after they left the restaurant where
the meeting took place, the two said, they were stopped by other
officers, accused of obtaining secret documents and detained.
During
the trial, one police officer involved in the arrest told the court
that he had inexplicably burned his notes about the event. But, the most
damning admission came when a police captain testified that he was
instructed by his superiors to trap Wa Lone. Captain Moe Yan Naing, was
subsequently sentenced to prison for violating the police force’s
disciplinary code and remains incarcerated.
Outside of Myanmar, the two have been hailed for
their reporting, which detailed evidence linking state security
forces to the killings in the village of Inn Din. The massacre was part
of a larger crackdown against the Rohingya, which United Nations
investigators have said had genocidal intent.
The
military, which remains a powerful political force in Myanmar,
sentenced seven soldiers to 10 years in prison in April with hard labor
for their roles in the massacre.
The two
journalists have won numerous international awards for their reporting.
Most recently, they were named along with other journalists as TIME
Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2018.
Inside
Myanmar, however where the Rohingya are a largely detested minority, the
reaction has been at times less favorable. The two have been criticized
for betraying the country and been labeled as traitors.
A small group of fellow journalists and activists
have staged periodic protests and continue to call for the release of Wa
Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
“It is not just that
they are in jail,” Maung Saungkha, a poet and executive director of
Athan, an activists group that advocates for freedom of expression, said
on Friday. “It is the press freedom of the country that is in jail.”
McLaughlin reported from Hong Kong
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