YANGON: TwoReuters journalists jailed for seven years while investigating atrocitiescommitted against the Rohingya in Myanmar had their appeal dismissed Friday,dismaying colleagues and tearful family members who had held slim hopes theywould walk free. Reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested inYangon in December 2017 and later jailed for violating the state secrets act, acharge Reuters said was trumped up to muzzle their reporting.
Prosecutors saythe two had classified information regarding security operations in Rakhinestate, from where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled during anarmy-led crackdown the United Nations has described as "ethnic cleansing".Aung Naing, a judge at the Yangon Regional High Court, said the originalverdict was a "reasonable decision" delivered in line with the law."The court decides to dismiss the appeal," he said.
The reporters'wives cried after the decision, which condemns the pair to continue theirincarceration at Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where they have been heldfor the last 13 months. "I feel really sad that what we hoped for did nothappen," a stone-faced Chit Su Win, who is married to Kyaw Soe Oo, toldreporters outside the court. Wa Lone's wife Pan Ei Mon -- who has given birthto a baby girl since her husband was put behind bars -- was similarlydespondent. "I don't want to talk about the decision today as it is notgood news," she said.
Presidentialpardon?
The two men --who were not present for the decision -- have insisted they were victims of apolice set-up, pointing to testimony from a serving officer who said a superiorordered others to entrap them. At the time of the arrest they were probing theextrajudicial killing of 10 Rohingya at Inn Din village in northern Rakhinestate.
"They remainbehind bars for one reason: those in power sought to silence the truth,"Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen J Adler said in a statement Friday. Theoriginal trial was widely regarded as a sham and seen as punishment for theirinvestigation and a warning shot to other media. Outside the country, the twomen have been hailed as media freedom heroes and jointly named Time magazine'sPerson of the Year 2018, alongside other high-profile journalists. But theyhave gained little sympathy within Myanmar.
The violentmilitary campaign in 2017 forced more than 720,000 Rohingya across the borderto Bangladesh, with refugees bringing accounts of murder, rape and arson. UNinvestigators have called for top generals to be investigated for genocide andsingled out de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for criticism for failingto condemn the operations. The image of the formerly renowned champion of humanrights has been further damaged by the Reuters conviction.
In her mostcomprehensive comments on their case in September, Suu Kyi denied the pair hadbeen jailed "because they were journalists" and endorsed the courtdecision that "they had broken the Official Secrets Act". Options aredwindling for the two young men. The legal team can lodge an appeal withMyanmar's Supreme Court but some see a presidential pardon as another way out,even though the president Win Myint is a Suu Kyi loyalist.
Internationalcondemnation
The United Statessaid it was "deeply disappointed" by the verdict and pledged to pressthe journalists' case. "A free and independent press should be protectedin any democracy. Today's ruling casts doubt not only on freedom of expressionin Burma, but also raises questions about Burma's commitment to the rule oflaw," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said, using Myanmar'sformer name.
Reacting outsidethe court, European Union ambassador to Myanmar Kristian Schmidt said he lookedto the president to "correct the injustice". Speaking on the BBC, UKForeign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged Suu Kyi "to look at whether that dueprocess" was followed in the case, calling on the fallen rights icon totake "a personal interest in the future of these two bravejournalists." Myanmar's army gets 25 percent of parliamentary seatsunelected under a constitution it wrote and runs all defense affairs withoutinput from the civilian government. - AFP