The case has drawn worldwide attention as an example of how press freedom is suffering under the government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
A court in Myanmar court has sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison for illegal possession of official documents while reporting on violence against Rohingya Muslims.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had pleaded not guilty to violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
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 US and British ambassadors who were present at the sentencing of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo on Monday called the verdict a blow for Myanmar’s transition to democracy.
The two journalists were arrested in December while reporting on the mass killing of ten Rohingya Muslim men in the village of Inn Din, Rakhine state, last September.
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 Reuters’ editor-in-chief, Stephen J Adler, said in a statement.
Kyaw Soe Oo also said the reporters had committed no crime and that they would maintain their fight for press freedom.
“The United Nations has consistently called for the release of the Reuters journalists and urged the authorities to respect their right to pursue freedom of expression and information,” he said. “Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo should be allowed to return to their families and continue their work as journalists.”
Human Rights Watch condemned the “politically-motivated” charges as a return to the media repression seen during military rule.
Bangladesh hosts more than 700,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar following a security crackdown by its army in Rakhine State last year.
