The conviction of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar "marks a new low" for press freedom and human rights situation in the country, an international watchdog said Monday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2018) The conviction of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar "marks a new low" for press freedom and human rights situation in the country, an international watchdog said Monday.
Earlier in the day, the two journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who had been reporting on the Rohingya crisis, were sentenced to seven years in prison for violating a state secrets act of Myanmar.
"The outrageous convictions of the Reuters journalists show Myanmar courts' willingness to muzzle those reporting on military atrocities. These sentences mark a new low for press freedom and further backsliding on rights under Aung San Suu Kyi's government," Brad Adams, the director of Human Rights Watch Asia, said, according to the organization's statement.
The two journalists, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, had been detained in December after a meeting with the police officials. The journalists were reportedly given some papers allegedly linked to the security operations in Rakhine state.
The tensions between Rohingya people and Myanmar authorities flared in August. The two journalists had been investigating the killing of Rohingya in the Inn Din village in September. The massacre was one among many episodes of persecution of the Muslim minority.
