{"id":54538,"date":"2017-12-14T06:46:03","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T06:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=54538"},"modified":"2017-12-14T06:46:03","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T06:46:03","slug":"two-reuters-journalists-arrested-in-myanmar-face-official-secrets-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/two-reuters-journalists-arrested-in-myanmar-face-official-secrets-charges.html","title":{"rendered":"Two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar, face official secrets charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar, face official secrets charges<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Myanmar\u2019s government said on Wednesday that police had arrested two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The reporters had been working on stories about a military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rahkine State that has caused almost 650,000 people to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Information said in a statement on its Facebook page that the journalists and two policemen face charges under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The 1923 law carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reporters \u201cillegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media,\u201d said the statement, which was accompanied by a photo of the pair in handcuffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

It said they were detained at a police station on the outskirts of Yangon, the southeast Asian nation\u2019s main city.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo went missing on Tuesday evening after they had been invited to meet police officials over dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reuters\u2019 driver Myothant Tun dropped them off at Battalion 8\u2019s compound at around 8 pm and the two reporters and two police officers headed to a nearby restaurant. The journalists did not return to the car.<\/span><\/p>\n

BLATANT ATTACK<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say their exodus from the mainly Buddhist nation was triggered by a military counter-offensive in Rakhine state that the United Nations has branded \u201ca textbook example of ethnic cleansing\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been reporting on events of global importance in Myanmar, and we learned today that they have been arrested in connection with their work,\u201d said Stephen J. Adler, president and editor-in-chief of Reuters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesman for Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi confirmed that the two journalists had been arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot only your reporters, but also the policemen who were involved in that case,\u201d spokesman Zaw Htay said. \u201cWe will take action against those policemen and also the reporters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert emphasized that the agency was \u201cfollowing this closely.\u201d She said that U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel on Wednesday had a conversation with two government officials in Myanmar who seemed \u201cgenuinely unaware\u201d of the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe care about the safety and security of international reporters who are simply just trying to do their jobs. So we\u2019re going to continue to try to stay on that,\u201d Nauert said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. embassy in Yangon said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday it was \u201cdeeply concerned by the highly irregular arrests of two Reuters reporters after they were invited to meet with police officials in Yangon last night\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely,\u201d the embassy said. \u201cWe urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s mission in Yangon also voiced concern.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU delegation is closely following their case and we call on the Myanmar authorities to ensure the full protection of their rights,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cMedia freedom is the foundation of any democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for the reporters\u2019 immediate and unconditional release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese arrests come amid a widening crackdown which is having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance,\u201d said Shawn Crispin, CPJ\u2019s senior Southeast Asia representative.<\/span><\/p>\n

TEXTED FOUR WORDS<\/span><\/p>\n

Wa Lone, who joined Reuters in July 2016, has covered a range of stories, including the flight of Rohingya refugees from Rakhine in 2016 and, in much larger numbers, this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has written about military land grabs and the killing of ruling party lawyer Ko Ni in January. This year he jointly won an honorable mention from the Society of Publishers in Asia for Reuters coverage of the Rakhine crisis in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

He previously worked for The Myanmar Times, where he covered Myanmar\u2019s historic 2015 elections, and People\u2019s Age, a local weekly newspaper, where his editor was Myanmar\u2019s current Minister of Information Pe Myint.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyaw Soe Oo, an ethnic Rakhine Buddhist from state capital Sittwe, has worked with Reuters since September.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has covered the impact of the Aug. 25 attacks on police and army posts in the northern Rakhine, and reported from the central part of the state where local Buddhists have been enforcing segregation between Rohingya and Rakhine communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

He previously worked for Root Investigation Agency, a local news outlet focused on Rakhine issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have been arrest\u201d were the four words that Wa Lone texted to Reuters Myanmar Bureau Chief Antoni Slodkowski on Tuesday evening to let him know what was happening. Very soon after that Wa Lone\u2019s phone appeared to have been switched off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the next 24 hours, Reuters colleagues in Yangon filed a missing persons report, went to three police stations, and asked a series of government officials what had happened to the two reporters. They got no official information until Wednesday evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-myanmar-journalists\/two-reuters-journalists-arrested-in-myanmar-face-official-secrets-charges-idUSKBN1E71CO<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t