Human Rights Watch has condemned the decision of a Myanmar court to convict two Reuters journalists to seven-year sentences for reporting military abuses by the military against the country’s Rohingya Muslim population.
A Yangon court found reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 guilty of breaching Myanmar’s official secrets act for possession of secret documents. The pair had been investigating a massacre of 10 Rohingya men and boys in western Rakhine State in September 2017.
The journalists were arrested following a meeting with police officials at a Yangoon restaurant on December 12, where they left the gathering accused of possessing classified material.
“The outrageous convictions of the Reuters journalists show Myanmar courts’ willingness to muzzle those reporting on military atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“These sentences mark a new low for press freedom and further backsliding on rights under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.
“Myanmar’s leadership should immediately quash the verdicts and release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
“These convictions won’t hide the horrors against the Rohingya from the world – they merely reveal the precarious state of free speech in the country and the urgent need for international action to free these journalists.”
The report substantiates an in-depth investigation by Dateline broadcast in May this year in .
Dateline reporter Evan Williams uncovered footage shot by local activists and revealed first-hand accounts from survivors and witnesses who highlighted military abuse of the Rohingya.
“There is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw chain of command, so that a competent court can determine their liability for genocide,” the UN report states.
The report found the military has similar cases to answer in other parts of the country: “The gross human rights violations and abuses committed in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan States are shocking for their horrifying nature and ubiquity.
“Many of these violations undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law. [The violations] stem from deep fractures in society and structural problems that have been apparent and unaddressed for decades. They are shocking for the level of denial, normalcy and impunity that is attached to them.”
The violent campaign against Myanmar’s Rohingya has forced up to 700,000 people to flee to nearby Bangaladesh.
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