UNB, Dhaka :
UN experts have called on the prosecution to drop the charges against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and urged the government of Myanmar to release both journalists immediately.
A Myanmar court’s decision to continue pursuing a case against two Reuters reporters gives rise to grave concern for investigative journalism and the public’s right to information in the country, UN experts have said.
The UN experts are Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee.
On Wednesday, a court in Yangon rejected a motion to dismiss the case against the two reporters.
It scheduled a hearing for April 20 to hear additional prosecution witnesses, according to the statement UNB received from Geneva on Thursday. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporting on the widespread assault on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State when authorities arrested them on December 12, 2017.
The authorities accuse the journalists of illegally acquiring information with the intention of sharing it with foreign media. On December 21, 2017, UN experts raised concern that the charges brought
against the reporters under the 1923 Official Secrets Act are tantamount to the criminalisation of journalism in Myanmar.
On April 10, 2018, seven soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area for participating in a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in a village in Rakhine State.
“The perpetrators of a massacre that was, in part, the subject of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s reporting, have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. And yet these two reporters face a possible 14 years imprisonment. The absurdity of this trial and the wrongfulness of their detention and prosecution are clear,” the experts said.
UN experts have called on the prosecution to drop the charges against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and urged the government of Myanmar to release both journalists immediately.
A Myanmar court’s decision to continue pursuing a case against two Reuters reporters gives rise to grave concern for investigative journalism and the public’s right to information in the country, UN experts have said.
The UN experts are Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee.
On Wednesday, a court in Yangon rejected a motion to dismiss the case against the two reporters.
It scheduled a hearing for April 20 to hear additional prosecution witnesses, according to the statement UNB received from Geneva on Thursday. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporting on the widespread assault on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State when authorities arrested them on December 12, 2017.
The authorities accuse the journalists of illegally acquiring information with the intention of sharing it with foreign media. On December 21, 2017, UN experts raised concern that the charges brought
against the reporters under the 1923 Official Secrets Act are tantamount to the criminalisation of journalism in Myanmar.
On April 10, 2018, seven soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area for participating in a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in a village in Rakhine State.
“The perpetrators of a massacre that was, in part, the subject of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s reporting, have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. And yet these two reporters face a possible 14 years imprisonment. The absurdity of this trial and the wrongfulness of their detention and prosecution are clear,” the experts said.
