(THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF ‘GLOBAL VOICES’)
One of many online campaigns’ images demanding the release of wrongly accused journalists.
Two Myanmar reporters who were covering the killing of Rohingya in Rakhine state last year were sentenced to seven years prison on September 3 for violating the Official Secrets Act of 1923 after a nine-month-long trial.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were working for Reuters when they were arrested in December 2017 for possessing state documents regarding military operations in Rakhine state. In court proceedings earlier this year, police testified that they had handed the documents to the reporters without explanation, shortly before the arrest.
The two reporters were investigating the killings of 10 Rohingya villagers by the military in Inn Din village in the northwest of Rakhine on the aftermath of the clashes between the army and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in August 2017. The clashes were followed by the displacement of more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh.
Myanmar’s government does not recognize Myanmar-born Rohingyas, most of whom are Muslim, as citizens or as an ethnic group living in Myanmar. The government designates ARSA as a terrorist organization.
In April 2018, police captain Moe Yan Naing testified in court that he and a colleague were ordered to entrap the reporters. He was sentenced to one year in prison after that testimony for violating the Police Disciplinary Act. He told reporters after the hearing that sentenced him: “Putting me in prison stops other police officers from saying the truth”.
Immediately after the court decision, Free of Expression Myanmar (FEM), a local civil society group, released its statement denouncing the state for its failure to protect journalists.
The conviction shows the lengths to which the Myanmar state is willing to go to hide its wrongdoing. In the past, the state has mostly bullied and jailed local journalists, but now it has picked on one of the most renowned media houses in the world.”
Local voices demand justice
The case has attracted outrage not only internationally, but inside Myanmar too.
Many people in the country, including civil society organization and activists, have been speaking out against the journalists’ arrest since last year.
Last month, A-than (Voice), a local civil society group working for the abolition of Myanmar’s online defamation law, launched a video campaign on social media featuring several activists from Myanmar calling for the release of the journalists. The statement message of the campaign posts read as:
A few days before the hearing on September 3, many marched in the city of Yangon, Myanmar’s economic capital, to demand journalists’ release.
For some, the case reinforces the growing disappointment with the government of the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by noble peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Peace activist Moe Thway expressed his disappoint for Aung San Suu Kyi for not speaking out to protect the journalists.
In a statement [pdf] condemning the verdict, organized by A-than and signed by 63 local NGOs, supporters wrote:
We believe that the decision by the court is irrational and the case was brought against the two journalists….to justify [their] arrest and imprisonment…We take this as a crackdown on the right of access to information and media freedom, and an oppressive gesture [against] all concerned people of Myanmar who are aspiring [to]….a society characterized by rule of law, accountability, freedom and justice.
The court decision was also condemned by the international community, including statements released immediately by US Embassy in Myanmar and EU Union in Myanmar.
ARSA has exacerbated the suffering of its own people. The radical Buddhists, however, are equally to blame.
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By everything that I have read on these issues, I agree with you. The people are in an impossible position, the Generals with their backing of the military are mass murderers and then many of the “Priests” in the Buddhist religion there are using their religion to condone mass murder. Any time that people “use” their “religion” to kill other people then the only thing that the people are really worshiping is the Devil Himself. All people have the right to protect themselves “in the moment” if they are being attacked, but you have no right to do the attacking of others.
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Unfortuanately this is Great humanity crisis but arsa is really a terrorist organisation.
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I agree, no human has the right to harm another human, all people should live in peace with all people, for those who do otherwise, the Devil awaits them.
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