Myanmar frees two Reuters journalists in amnesty

Two Reuters journalists who had been jailed for their reporting on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar walked out of prison Tuesday, freed in a presidential amnesty after a global campaign for their release.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were mobbed by media as they steppedout of Yangon’s notorious Insein prison after their lengthy detention.

   

Their December 2017 arrests made them an international causecelebre and a sign of Myanmar’s deteriorating press freedoms under Nobellaureate and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Wa Lone, 33, thanked people from “around theworld” for advocating for their release and vowed he would return to work.

“I can’t wait to go to my newsroom,” he said.”I am a journalist and I am going to continue.” Reuterseditor-in-chief Stephen Adler said: “We are enormously pleased thatMyanmar has released our courageous reporters”.

“Since their arrests 511 days ago, they have becomesymbols of the importance of press freedom around the world. We welcome theirreturn.”

The two men waved and smiled broadly as they walked out ofthe jail.

The pair were convicted on charges of violating the officialsecrets act and sentenced to seven years each.

At the time of their arrest they had been reporting on aSeptember 2017 massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims in conflict-hit Rakhine state,where the Myanmar army forced some 740,000 of the stateless minority to fleeover the border to Bangladesh.

The case prompted an outcry around the world and crushedwhat was left of Suu Kyi’s legacy as a rights defender.

Reuters has said the two were imprisoned in retaliation fortheir expose.

The army convicted soldiers for the massacre in a rareresponse to allegations of atrocities.

While inside, the duo missed numerous family milestones,including the birth of Wa Lone’s daughter.

But they were also showered with numerous awards and honoursin response to their work.

Last month, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo won the prestigiousPulitzer prize.

They were also featured earlier on the cover of TIMEmagazine as part of its person of the year coverage featuring journaliststargeted for their reporting.

The case against them become a byword for the war againstpress freedom and prompted an international campaign that attracted the supportof prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

Rights groups and legal experts say the case against thereporters was riddled with irregularities.

A whistleblowing police officer testified during their trialthat his superior had ordered his team to trap the reporters in a sting —testimony the judge chose to ignore.

Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy party tovictory in historic 2015 polls, ending decades of military-backed rule.

But the dreams of a new day for Myanmar were short-livedafter the army’s campaign against the Rohingya in Rakhine state, which UNinvestigators have said amounted to genocide.

Myanmar has denied the charges and said it was defendingitself against Rohingya militants, who attacked and killed police officers inAugust 2017.

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