Journalists Who Investigated the Rohingya Killings are Now Imprisoned for 7 Years

Finally, the judgment of the Reuters journalists is out. The Myanmar court has given the verdict for two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. Both of them are sentenced to seven years of imprisonment as the Court finds them guilty of tampering data under the Official Secrets Act. Since December 2017, both of the journalists were confined and investigations were on its lead. Reportedly, they were doing their work of investigating on the mass killing of several Rohingya villagers who resided in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 and Wa Lone, 32 said that they were not surprised of the verdict as they knew it was coming. As per sources, the incident of mass killings was termed as “ethnic cleansing” by the UN. Military forces were used upon a group of 700,000 people. They were a minority Muslim group called Rohingya and were forced to leave Myanmar and settle in Bangladesh.

When the two journalists were accused of violating the colonial era act they pleaded themselves as not guilty. Under this breach of the law, a person can face up to 14 years of jail. As per sources, the verdict of this case was to be given last Monday, but reportedly the judge was unwell to reach the court.

After the verdict was given, supporters crowded in front of the court to block the pathway of policemen who were taking the two journalists in the van to take them back to the jail.

Is the judgment questioning the freedom of the press?

Zau Maung, the lawyer of the convicts said that this judgment is a great blow to the democratic law. The judgment was also condemned and questioned on the grounds of freedom of the press. The judge who gave the verdict said that it can't be said that they were doing typical journalistic work. The secret papers handled by them are considered to be valuable to the adversaries of the nation or the ones who restrict the nation.

When enquired about the matter in court, both the journalists confirmed that they were given the investigation papers. In the light of the statement, they mentioned that to unknown police officers met them in a Yangon restaurant and handed them those papers willingly. Soon after this, some other policemen came in civilian dresses and arrested them for the papers. They informed the court that they were arrested so quickly that did not give them any chance to read the alleged documents for which they have been arrested.

In April, a statement was given by Moe Yan Naing who is a Myanmar police officer. He said that the senior officers of the police planned to frame the journalists. Everything was planned and they planted the secret documents on the intentionally to trap them later.

In light of this case, the Myanmar government is facing criticism again. Earlier the support on the government was shaken when it was unable to handle the Rohingya issue. This judgment is again questioning the governance and democracy of the Nation. The de facto leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi is reportedly losing the trust over her position. The imprisonment is also questioning the factors of investigative journalism. This is somewhat a huge thrash over the freedom of the press in Myanmar and is thus questioning the democracy and the government.

Knut Ostby, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar were against the judgment passed and said, "The United Nations has consistently called for the release of the Reuters journalists and urged the authorities to respect the journalist’s right to pursue freedom of expression and information." He also said that these two journalists should be realized immediately to return back to their families and again work as journalists.

The editor-in-chief of Reuters, Stephen Adler expressed deep grief and said it is a sad day for the Reuters and the Press fraternity as a whole. He also pleaded for the Myanmar government to correct this action on an urgent basis. Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson also condemned the decision.

The condition of the Rohingya people

It is another heart-wrenching story of mass exodus where the Rohingya Muslims were forced to flee to Bangladesh since last August. They are moving towards the Myanmar Bangladesh border which has now become one of the largest refugee camps in the world. There are horrifying stories of people who have faced enormous difficulties in crossing the border. An investigation carried out by the United Nations stated about the abuse inflicted upon these Rohingya refugees. They appealed for the investigation of military officers who are involved in genocide, heinous crimes, and war crimes. There are reports of murder, sexual violence, imprisonment of the Rohingyas. As per reports, the accused were the Myanmar military officials.

The Myanmar military officials said that these claims are simply baseless and nothing such sort happened. They informed the investigators that they only attacked those Rohingya militants who were involved in making the deadly attacks in the police posts. They informed that no unarmed Rohingyas were attacked by them.

Myanmar's military forces have repeatedly denied that it has deliberately attacked unarmed Rohingya. Instead, the authorities insist that it only targets Rohingya militants who were mostly from Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), mostly from the insurgent group that is alleged to have launched deadly attacks on police posts.

The previously published reports of the journalists

There had been reports of a special investigation in Reuters where these two journalists’ findings were published. As per the reports, there were documentations of 10 men from the Rohingya community getting killed by the troops of Myanmar and some Buddhist villagers were also involved in the matter. The report was based on photographs and interviews conducted in Bangladesh and Myanmar. There were excerpts of the last moments of people who were dying which included regular people like teachers, fishermen, shopkeepers and even teenage students. At that time, the military forces of Myanmar had said that they were involved in the killings and also reported the imprisonment of seven soldiers.

The government’s role

The imprisonment of Wa and Kyaw has turned head of the government. Sources say that pressure is being inflicted upon Aung San Suu Kyi for the release of the two journalists. The activists and the commentators have asked her to withdraw the sentence of imprisonment and call for a pardon. Previously Aung San Suu Kyi was famous for taking the nation from military hegemony to semi-democracy and her efforts have made her bag the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sean Connelly, the director at the Southeast Asia at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank tweeted mentioning Aung San Suu Kyi, "I hope for the sake of these two reporters and their families that ASSK... issues the amnesty”. He also mentioned that the government of Aung had gone through severe changes that have damaged the freedom of the press to cover the crimes caused against humanity. The Reuters’ chief said that this would be a backward transition for Myanmar and in the upcoming days he would evaluate the situation before sending relief in an international forum.