Desk News :
The recent arrest of two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act has raised anxieties about shrinking press freedom in Myanmar.
Local journalist networks and news organizations strongly criticized the arrest as the latest attack on the press and called for the pair’s immediate release.
“We journalists absolutely believe that journalists have the right to travel to conflict zones as well as gather information from relevant sources in order to produce accurate reports,” a joint statement from 12 journalists networks said.
The pair’s arrest is but the latest in a growing list of cases of journalists being taken to court by some of
the country’s most powerful institutions, including the military, The Irrawaddy reported on Friday.
A total of 11 journalists were arrested this year under various repressive laws, including the Official Secrets Act and the Unlawful Associations Act, and on defamation charges for gathering information or travelling to conflict areas for their work and for criticizing officials.
The Irrawaddy has compiled a list of the reporters arrested in 2017. Two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, were detained on Tuesday night after being invited to meet with police officials on Yangon’s outskirts for possessing police reports containing detailed information about the fighting between government troops and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in late August 2017.
The recent arrest of two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act has raised anxieties about shrinking press freedom in Myanmar.
Local journalist networks and news organizations strongly criticized the arrest as the latest attack on the press and called for the pair’s immediate release.
“We journalists absolutely believe that journalists have the right to travel to conflict zones as well as gather information from relevant sources in order to produce accurate reports,” a joint statement from 12 journalists networks said.
The pair’s arrest is but the latest in a growing list of cases of journalists being taken to court by some of
the country’s most powerful institutions, including the military, The Irrawaddy reported on Friday.
A total of 11 journalists were arrested this year under various repressive laws, including the Official Secrets Act and the Unlawful Associations Act, and on defamation charges for gathering information or travelling to conflict areas for their work and for criticizing officials.
The Irrawaddy has compiled a list of the reporters arrested in 2017. Two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, were detained on Tuesday night after being invited to meet with police officials on Yangon’s outskirts for possessing police reports containing detailed information about the fighting between government troops and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in late August 2017.
