News agency says arrests are attack on press freedom and US embassy says it is deeply concerned

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The news agency Reuters has said it is “outraged” by the arrest of two of its journalists in Myanmar and accused officials of an attack against press freedoms.

Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were held under the Official Secrets Act, the government announced on Wednesday. It accused them of having documents related to unrest in Rakhine state, where a military crackdown has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The US embassy in Myanmar said it was “deeply concerned” about the arrests and urged the government to allow access to the pair. “For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely,” it said in a statement.

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The Reuters president and editor-in-chief, Stephen Adler, said: “We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately.”



Burmese officials released a staged image of the two journalists wearing handcuffs with documents displayed before them.

The information ministry said the pair were accused of intending “to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine state to foreign agencies abroad”.



They have been charged under a section of the Official Secrets Act that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The ministry said action would also be taken against two police officers who had recently returned from duty in northern Rakhine.

Myanmar has been widely criticised over the army crackdown in Rakhine. Refugees have told of horrifying attacks, murder, rape and arson.

The UN has said the army campaign probably amount to ethnic cleansing and has possible “elements of genocide” – charges Myanmar vehemently denies.

Authorities have banned journalists from independently travelling to northern Rakhine, the epicentre of the unrest.

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Since the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi came to power in 2016 after decades of military rule, rights groups have expressed alarm about worsening freedom of expression.

The number of online defamation cases has shot up, with a telecommunications law ensnaring online satirists, activists and journalists. A report by Free Expression Myanmar on Monday said every case that had made it to court so far had ended with a guilty verdict and a prison sentence.

In one prominent case, the editor of the Myanmar Now news agency, Swe Win, was charged with insulting a Buddhist monk who had praised the killer of a Muslim government lawyer. The trial is still ongoing.

In October, a Burmese journalist, two reporters from Malaysia and Singapore and their driver were arrested in the capital, Naypyidaw, for flying a drone over parliament. They were sentenced to two months in prison while awaiting additional charges.