Bill Clinton Joins Calls for Release of Reuters Journalists in Myanmar

Calls grew on Tuesday for the release of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar who are facing accusations of breaching the country’s Official Secrets Act, with former U.S. President Bill Clinton urging that they be freed immediately, Reuters reports.

The reporters, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were detained on Dec. 12. They are due to make their second appearance in court in the main city of Yangon on Wednesday.

The two had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in the western state of Rakhine, where an estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a military crackdown that followed militant attacks on security forces.

“A free press is critical to a free society - the detention of journalists anywhere is unacceptable. The Reuters journalists being held in Myanmar should be released immediately,” Clinton said in a Twitter post.

Clinton was U.S. president for much of the 1990s when the United States pressed Myanmar’s then military rulers to release democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest.

Suu Kyi won a 2015 election and formed a government in early 2016, although she is barred by the constitution from becoming president. She has made no public comment on the case of the two Reuters reporters. Her spokesman has said the case would be handled according to the law.