Pence calls on Myanmar to free two Reuters reporters

YANGON: US Vice President Mike Pence called on Myanmar to immediately release two journalists who were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on charges of possessing state secrets in connection with their reporting on massacres against Rohingya Muslims.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from the Reuters news agency were sentenced on Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair.

They had reported about the army’s brutal counter-insurgency campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The subject is sensitive in Myanmar because of worldwide condemnation of the military’s human rights abuses, which it denies.

Pence on Tuesday tweeted the two should 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,” he wrote in back-to-back tweets. “We call on the Gov’t of Burma to reverse this ruling & release them immediately.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged Myanmar authorities to review their decision, noting with concern the conviction and sentencing of the two.

“The right to freedom of expression and information is a cornerstone of any democracy. It is unacceptable that these journalists were prosecuted for reporting on major human rights violations against the Rohingya in Rakhine state,” Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement.

The case drew worldwide attention as an example of how democratic reforms in long-isolated Myanmar have stalled under Nobel Peace laurate Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, which took power in 2016.

Although the military, which ruled Myanmar for a half-century, maintains control of several key ministries, Suu Kyi’s rise to government leader had raised hopes for an accelerated transition to full democracy, and her stance on the Rohingya crisis has disappointed many.

Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, said she was sad and hurt that Suu Kyi had taken a legalistic position in a June interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK by saying the reporters were arrested for breaking the Official Secret Act, not because they exposed the army’s abuses.

“I am very sad about what she answered because she was the one whom we always admired and respected,” Pan Ei Mon said on Tuesday. — AP