Myanmar govt to proceed with case against Reuters journos

YANGON: Myanmar’s civilian president, Htin Kyaw, a close ally of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has authorised the police to proceed with a case against two detained Reuters reporters accused of violating the colonialera Official Secrets Act, a senior government spokesman said.

Journalists Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested last Tuesday after they were invited to dine with police on the outskirts of the city near here.

“The Home Affairs Ministry has submitted the case to the president’s office,” Zaw Htay, spokesman for Suu Kyi, said on Sunday, adding that the president’s office had given approval for the case to go ahead.

Zaw Htay could not be reached yesterday to clarify whether Htin Kyaw or Suu Kyi had been personally involved in the decision, or if other officials had signed off on the president’s behalf.

A number of governments, including the United States, Canada and Britain, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler and a host of journalists’ and human rights’ groups, have criticised the arrests as an attack on press freedom and called on Myanmar to release the two men.

The reporters had worked on coverage of a crisis that has seen about 655,000 Rohingya Muslims flee from a fierce crackdown on militants in Rakhine State.

The Information Ministry said last week that the journalists had “illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media”, and released a photo of the pair in handcuffs.

The authorities have not allowed the journalists any contact with their families, a lawyer or Reuters since their arrest.

Police told Wa Lone’s wife on Thursday that the reporters were taken from Htaunt Kyant police station here to an undisclosed location by an investigation team shortly after their arrest.

They said the reporters would be brought back to the station in “two to three days at most”.

It is now a week since they were detained and there has been no update on their whereabouts. Reuters