Reuters journalists charged in Myanmar over Rohingya massacre reporting

Reuters pair face a maximum of 14 years in prison after being charged with breaking a colonial-era act in Myanmar.

2 min read

09 July, 2018

Wa Lone [centre] was arrested with his colleague Kyaw Soe Oo last year [AFP]

Authorities in Myanmar have charged two journalists under the country's Official Secrets Act, the Reuters news agency said on Monday.

Journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who were in Yangon district reporting for Reuters on the Rohingya crisis, pleaded not guilty to breaching the colonial-era act.

The pair face a maximum of 14 years in prison, according to the London-based news agency.

Police arrested the reporters late last year amid their reporting on the country's controversial military sweep across Rakhine State, which caused hundreds of thousands of the state's Muslim minority to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Earlier this year, police captain Moe Yan Naing cast further doubt on the allegations against the journalists when he told the court that he had witnessed a high-level plot by police to frame the pair.

Reuters has condemned the court's decision and called for their immediate release.

"We are deeply disappointed that the court declined to end this protracted and baseless proceeding against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo," the agency's President and Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement.

"Today's decision casts serious doubt on Myanmar's commitment to press freedom and the rule of law," he added.

Earlier this year, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were credited in a Reuters report that documented the killing of 10 Rohingya men who were allegedly murdered by troops and Buddhist villagers.

Since the report's release, Myanmar's has imprisoned seven soldiers for their alleged roles in the killings and have put several other security personnel and civilians on trial.