UK calls for Burma to free reporters

FOREIGN Secretary Jeremy Hunt will use a visit to Burma to call for the release of two journalists jailed after investigating a bloody crackdown against Rohingya Muslims.

A Burmese court yesterday sentenced Reuters workers Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, to seven years in prison for breaching the Official Secrets Act. The men, who are both Burmese citizens, were convicted of illegal possession of documents while reporting on violence by security forces against the Rohingya. Both pleaded not guilty and insisted they had been framed by the police in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter: ‘Imprisoning journalists who write about inconvenient truths is an unconscionable blow to Press freedom – and indeed everyone’s freedom. Will be raising the extremely serious case of the two Reuters journalists on my forthcoming visit to Burma.’

Downing Street said the UK’s ambassador to Burma had already protested at the sentence after attending the men’s court hearing. The Prime Minister’s spokesman added: ‘We call for the journalists to be released immediately.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to escape the violence, which came after Rohingya militants attacked police last August, killing several officers. The Burmese military has been accused of genocide by the UN for its brutal response, which claimed almost 7,000 lives in the first month.