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Myanmar frees Reuters journalists jailed for reporting on Rohingya crisis

May 7, 2019/in News

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have spent more than a year in jail after being accused of breaching Official Secrets Act Two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting of the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims have been pardoned and released after spending more than 500 days in jail. Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe […]

Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo among 6,520 prisoners freed in presidential pardon

May 7, 2019/in News

By YE MON | FRONTIER YANGON — Reuters journalists Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo were among 6,520 inmates freed on Tuesday in the third and final round of a mass presidential pardon to mark the Myanmar New Year. The two reporters were freed from Yangon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday morning. Wa Lone […]

Myanmar frees Reuters journalists jailed for reporting on Rohingya crisis

May 7, 2019/in News

Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo among 6,520 prisoners freed in presidential pardon

May 7, 2019/in News

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Myanmar frees Reuters journalists jailed for reporting on Rohingya crisis

May 7, 2019/in News

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have spent more than a year in jail after being accused of breaching Official Secrets Act

Two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting of the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims have been pardoned and released after spending more than 500 days in jail.

Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, were arrested in December 2017 and accused of breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, and have been imprisoned in Yangon’s Insein jail ever since.

The pair were released on Tuesday as part of an amnesty of 6,520 prisoners by President Win Myint. The chief of Insein prison, Zaw Zaw, confirmed Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been freed.

Speaking moments after his release, Wa Lone said: ““I’m really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues. I can’t wait to go to my newsroom.”

Stephen J Adler, the editor-in-chief of Reuters, said he was “enormously pleased that Myanmar has released our courageous reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo”.

“Since their arrests 511 days ago, they have become symbols of the importance of press freedom around the world. We welcome their return,” Adler said.

Amal Clooney, who joined the legal team working on their case a year ago, paid tribute to the “incredible determination” of Reuters “in their pursuit of justice for their brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo”.

“It is inspiring to see a news organisation so committed to the protection of innocent men and the profession of journalism,” said Clooney. “I hope that their release signals a renewed commitment to press freedom in Myanmar.”

At the time of their arrest, the pair were working on an in-depth investigation into the brutal violence carried out against the Rohingya in Rahkine state by Myanmar’s military in August 2017 which forced more than 700,000 people to flee to Bangladesh and led to accusations of genocide.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Myanmar nationals who work for the international news agency, have continuously maintained their innocence and stated they were set up by the police who planted official papers on them at a meeting.

After a drawn-out trial which was widely regarded as a sham, with flimsy evidence and contradictory witnesses, including a policeman who told the court he had been instructed to set up the sting operation, the pair were sentenced to seven years in prison in September.

The pardon of the pair, by the Myanmar president, comes after 16 months of mounting pressure from international governments, diplomats, human rights organisations and even religious figures, which up to this point had appeared to fall on deaf ears. De facto leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has also repeatedly rebuffed calls by figures such as US vice president Mike Pence for her to pardon the pair, and within Myanmar there has been little sympathy for them.

Their long-awaited release one month after the highest court in Myanmar, the supreme court, rejected the final judicial appeal to overturn their sentence. The Myanmar government also did not chose to pardon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in the annual New Year amnesty this year, which saw 9,000 prisoners released.

It is unclear why the decision to pardon the pair was made now. However, this week senior diplomats and international officials are in Myanmar to discuss the situation in Rahkine with the Myanmar government, in a meeting of the International Advisory Commission. The commission was set up in 2017 to help Myanmar implement recommendations made by late former UN head Kofi Anan on resolving the ongoing conflict in Rahkine state.

While the Myanmar government insists it has implemented most of Anan’s recommendations, the situation in Rahkine, and the plight of the RohingyaMuslims, has not improved.

Present at their release from prison on Tuesday was Lord Ara Darzi, a member of the House of Lords who is on the International Advisory Commission. He said he had been involved in “months of dialogue” with the Myanmar government, Reuters and the UN as well as various governments and international organisations, which he did not name, to negotiate the pardoning of the journalists.

“I am delighted that the Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been granted a pardon, released from custody, and are with their loved ones once more,” said Darzi. “This outcome shows that dialogue works, even in the most difficult of circumstances.”

News of the release was greeted with a chorus of approval from figures and organisations around the world.

“We congratulate Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo on walking free from unjust imprisonment and applaud they have now been reunited with their families,” said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia. “These courageous investigative journalists should have never been arrested, much less imprisoned, in the first place and their release was long overdue.”

A statement from the office of the UN humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar said: “The UN in Myanmar welcomes the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from prison. The UN in Myanmar considers the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo a step toward improving the freedom of the press and a sign of government’s commitment to Myanmar’s transition to democracy.”

www.theguardian.com

Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo among 6,520 prisoners freed in presidential pardon

May 7, 2019/in News

By YE MON | FRONTIER

YANGON — Reuters journalists Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo were among 6,520 inmates freed on Tuesday in the third and final round of a mass presidential pardon to mark the Myanmar New Year.

The two reporters were freed from Yangon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday morning.

Wa Lone told reporters after his release that he would continue working as a journalist and he thanked everyone who supported him and Kyaw Soe Oo and their families while they were in Insein Prison.

“I want to thank everyone who helped us in prison, and everyone around the world who called for our release. I can’t wait to get back to the newsroom now,” he said.

Prison warden U Zaw Zaw told Frontier that actor Ko Moe Aung Yin, who was given a combined sentence of 17 years in prison late last year for the possession and abuse of drugs, would also be freed.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo lost their final appeal at Myanmar’s Supreme Court on April 23 against their seven-year sentences for breaking the Official Secrets Act.

After the verdict, a lawyer for the journalists said that their families would write to President U Win Myint asking him to review their conviction.

“A presidential pardon is the best hope for the release of the two journalists. It wouldn’t need to take long,” U Khin Maung Zaw said.

This is the third round of presidential pardons, after Win Myint freed 9,551 prisoners on April 17 and another 6,948 on April 26, most of whom were serving sentences for drug offences. Just five political prisoners were included in these two pardons, leaving activists frustrated.

President’s Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay hinted on April 26 that political prisoners would be freed in a third round. The government had discussed releasing “prisoners whose sentences were related to political issues”, he said.

It was unclear on Tuesday morning how many political prisoners would be freed.

The Myanmar Prisons Department, which is part of the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, released a statement last month asserting that there were no political prisoners in Myanmar, and that all prison inmates had been sentenced for committing criminal acts.

On Tuesday the United Nations in Myanmar said in a statement that it welcomed the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from prison.

“The UN in Myanmar considers the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo a step toward improving the freedom of the press and a sign of Government’s commitment to Myanmar’s transition to democracy,” it said.

Reuters editor-in-chief Mr Stephen J Adler said, “We are enormously pleased that Myanmar has released our courageous reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. Since their arrests 511 days ago, they have become symbols of the importance of press freedom around the world. We welcome their return”.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced in September 2018 by a Yangon district court judge who ruled that they possessed “secret” documents that could have damaged national security.

Defence lawyers appealed on the grounds that the police had set the journalists up, a claim supported by a police witness for the prosecution, who testified that documents were planted on them. Judges at the Yangon Region High Court, and the Supreme Court in Nay Pyi Taw, nevertheless upheld the ruling.

The case was criticized internationally as an attack on media freedom, but domestic support for the journalists was limited, partly because of public anger with the international media over its perceived bias towards the Rohingya in its coverage of Rakhine State.

Mr Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo should never have been arrested, much less imprisoned, and their release was long overdue.

“But the crisis is not over for the literally dozens of other Burmese journalists and bloggers who are still facing baseless criminal charges for their reporting about the Tatmadaw or NLD [National League for Democracy] government officials,” he said.

“Myanmar’s faltering respect for media freedom is indicates the dire situation facing human rights and democracy as the country moves toward national elections in 2020.”

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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