Pence to Myanmar: Free Reuters pair

YANGON, MYANMAR — U.S. 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 Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair. They had reported about the army’s brutal counterinsurgency 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-toback tweets. “We call on the Gov’t of Burma to reverse this ruling & release them immediately.”

U.N. 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.