The seven-year jail sentence handed down to two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslims was condemned worldwide as a travesty of justice and severe blow to press freedom in the south-east Asian country.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were found guilty on Monday of breaching the Official Secrets Act, under laws introduced in 1923 under British rule.

They have been held in prison since December, when they were arrested while reporting on an alleged killings of 10 Rohingya at the hands of soldiers and Buddhist villagers in Inn Din, a village in the north of Rakhine state.

The sentences, and the lack of condemnation from Aung San Suu Syi, the Nobel peace prize winner and now state counsellor, a position akin to prime minister, led to claims that her international reputation was now in shreds.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest De facto Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has not condemned the sentencing. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

As he was led to a police van in handcuffs, one of the reporters, Wa Lone, said: “I have no fear. I have not done anything wrong … I believe in justice, democracy and freedom.” Kyaw Soe Oo hugged his sobbing wife until police took him away.

In his ruling, judge Ye Lwin said the men “tried many times to get their hands on secret documents and pass them to others. They did not behave like normal journalists”.



The new UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said she was shocked by the case, and called for the two men’s unconditional release. “The reporters’ coverage of the Inn Din massacre by the military … was clearly in the public interest.”

Play Video 0:48 'I have no fear': Reuters reporter defiant after Myanmar sentencing – video

She said the trial itself was a travesty of justice. “Their conviction follows a legal process that clearly breached international standards. It sends a message to all journalists in Myanmar that they cannot operate fearlessly, but must rather make a choice to either self-censor or risk prosecution.”

The Rohingya crisis, a year on: four generations of one family on life in limbo Read more

Reuters condemned the verdict as “a major step backwards” for Myanmar. “Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere,” the editor-in-chief, Stephen J Adler, said in a statement. Adler called for Myanmar to review the decision urgently.

In a tweet, the UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said he would be raising the issue when he travelled to Myanmar shortly. “Imprisoning journalists who write about inconvenient truths is an unconscionable blow to press freedom – and indeed everyone’s freedom.” Hunt is expected to meet Aung San Suu Kyi.

Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) Imprisoning journalists who write about inconvenient truths is an unconscionable blow to press freedom - and indeed everyone’s freedom. Will be raising the extremely serious case of the two Reuters journalists on my forthcoming visit to Burma.

Some of her aides had suggested she might grant an amnesty at the end of the trial, but it has been reported that she described the reporters as traitors at a private meeting in January attended by Bill Richardson, a US diplomat and until recently a Suu Kyi confidant. Richardson quit his position on an international advisory body into the Rakhine crisis, labelling it a whitewash.

Another person at the same meeting said there was shouting and a “charged atmosphere”. “In that heated exchange, I wouldn’t dismiss that the word was used,” said retired Thai lawmaker and ambassador Kobsak Chutikul, who was secretary for the panel and who also later resigned.



The reporters’ defence lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, said the verdict was “bad for our country” and that he would “take any option to get their immediate release”.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Detained Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo leave court after listening to the verdict in Yangon, Myanmar. Photograph: Reuters

Prosecutors accused the men of obtaining secret state documents, in breach of the Official Secrets Act. The journalists said they were framed by police who gave them the documents at a dinner they had been invited to, and that they were targeted for their reporting. Kyaw Soe Oo said that while being investigated he was deprived of sleep, forced to kneel for hours and had a black hood placed over his head.

One prosecution witness said under cross-examination that he had written the location of the arrest on his hand so that he would not forget it while he was testifying. Another admitted that he burned his notes relating to the arrest.

The verdict comes during a time of intense international scrutiny on Myanmar authorities following a damning UN report about the military’s treatment of the Rohingya, which it said amounted to ethnic cleansing. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to bordering Bangladesh over the past year after a campaign of violence by the military.

Last week, the UN said Myanmar army generals should be investigated and prosecuted for “gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law”. In the report, which was rejected by the Myanmar government, de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was criticised for failing to support the Rohingya.