The wives of two Reuters journalists found guilty of violating Myanmar’s official secrets act and jailed for seven years have publicly lamented Aung San Suu Kyi’s role in tearing their families apart.

“Aung San Suu Kyi used to give speeches before I even understood English, and I would always listen to them because I knew the leader of the country was talking,” said Pan Ei Mon, wife of the reporter Wa Lone, as she addressed the media in Yangon. “I loved her and respected her so much, but she said our husbands were not reporters because they violated the nation’s secrets, and I am very devastated by that answer.”

Pan Ei Mon was referring to an interview that Myanmar’s civilian leader gave to the Japanese broadcaster NHK in June, during which she said the two reporters “were arrested because they broke the official secrets act”.

'A blow to press freedom': world reacts to jailing of Reuters journalists in Myanmar Read more

The same day, US vice president Mike Pence pointed to the importance of press freedom as he called on Myanmar to reverse its ruling and to release the pair immediately.

“Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo shd be commended – not imprisoned – for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings. Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy,” Pence wrote in a post on Twitter.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s presumption of the reporters’ guilt before they were convicted has drawn criticism from press freedom advocates and is thought to have been an indication that their trial was unfair. The two were arrested while reporting on a military massacre of 10 Rohingya civilians in Rakhine state.



“The leader of our country did not know the case well. Both of our families looked up to her, and we are very sad that the person we respected misrepresented us,” Pan Ei Mon added.

Wa Lone, 32, and fellow reporter Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were sentenced to seven years with hard labour on Monday after nine months of hearings.

They were arrested last December in what the defence argued was a trap aimed at silencing them. Rights groups, foreign governments and the UN have all called for the reporters’ immediate release.

During the press briefing, Pan Ei Mon lamented that her daughter, who was born last month, would grow up not knowing her father. “Ever since the start of my pregnancy, I thought they would be set free before I gave birth. But in the end I had the child, and they weren’t free. I stayed strong with the hope that my child would meet her father, but after yesterday’s verdict, my hopes are shattered.”

Chit Su Win, wife of Kyaw Soe Oo, also addressed Aung San Suu Kyi while describing the toll her husband’s detention had taken on her family. “My daughter asks me – doesn’t daddy love me any more? Doesn’t daddy live with us any more? As a mother, I feel devastated. I tell her daddy is working. I try to be strong for my daughter. I feel very depressed, but I steel myself, because if I am depressed, who will care for my daughter? I’m afraid my daughter will be scarred.”

The journalists’ sentencing comes as Myanmar and its ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, face international criticism over the country’s tightening restrictions on free speech and the media. Aside from several high-profile cases brought under the colonial-era official secrets law, official records show that the majority of cases brought under another piece of controversial censorship legislation, the 2013 telecommunications law, were opened since the NLD took control of the government.

Despite the increasing hostility towards journalists among government officials and other people in Myanmar, Chit Su Win said she stood by her husband’s work.

She said: “I saw the comments [on social media] blaming him for doing wrong. He was not wrong. I am proud of my husband. I married a reporter, and I’m not ashamed of it.”