A Cox’s Bazar court has sent two Myanmar photo journalists to jail on charge of concealing their actual identities and giving false information by breaking immigration law.
The duo, Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat, who work for Germany’s Hamburg-based GEO magazine, were arrested by police on September 7 from the country’s southeastern bordering upazila of Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar district, when they were covering Rohingya influx coming from Myanmar.
ZEO is a monthly magazines similar to the National Geographic magazine.
“After arrest, the two journalists were produced before the Cox’s Bazar senior judicial magistrate court next day [Thursday]. The court ordered to send them to jail rejecting their bail prayer,” ASP of police in Cox’s Bazar Afruzul Amin said.
Police arrested them for their “suspicious” movement, the ASP said, when they were capturing photographs in the bordering area entering Bangladesh in tourist visa hiding their actual identities of journalists.
“Not only that, they were collecting information from the government officials by providing them misinformation,” the ASP said.
Officer-in-charge of Cox’s Bazar Police Station, Ranajit Barua, said the journalists could face up to seven years in jail if found guilty while they violated immigration rules by reporting in Bangladesh on tourist visas.
The Cox’s Bazar police authorities told media that Bangladeshi authorities had also accused Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat of espionage.
Myanmar media, however, on Saturday reported that ZEO magazine authorities have expressed grave concern over the detention of Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat. The media claimed that two Myanmar journalists came to Bangladesh to cover news over the influx of Rohingya refugees.
Lawyer of the two foreign nationals, Jyotirmoy Barua, said that he will again pray for their bail with the same court on Tuesday. If rejected, then they will move to country’s higher court.
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ] has urged Bangladesh government to release the two Myanmar journalists immediately and drop all charges against them.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s Presidential Office Zaw Htay posted a tweet recently saying that the Myanmar government was asking Bangladesh why the journalists are being held.
