Myanmar reporters lose crucial appeal

YANGON: Two Reuters journalists jailed for seven years while investigating atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar had their appeal dismissed on Friday, dismaying colleagues and tearful family members who had held slim hopes they would walk free.

Reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested in Yangon in December 2017 and later jailed for violating the state secrets act, a charge Reuters said was trumped up to muzzle their reporting.

Prosecutors say the two had classified information regarding security operations in Rakhine state, from where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled during an army-led crackdown the United Nations has described as “ethnic cleansing”.

Aung Naing, a judge at the Yangon regional high court, said the original verdict was a “reasonable decision” delivered in line with the law.

“The court decides to dismiss the appeal,” he said.

The reporters’ wives cried after the decision, which condemns the pair to continue their incarceration at Yangon’s notorious Insein prison, where they have been held for the last 13 months.

“I feel really sad that what we hoped for did not happen,” a stone-faced Chit Su Win, who is married to Kyaw Soe Oo, told reporters outside the court.

Wa Lone’s wife Pan Ei Mon - who has given birth to a baby girl since her husband was put behind bars - was similarly despondent.

“I don’t want to talk about the decision today as it is not good news,” she said.

The two men - who were not present for the decision - have insisted they were victims of a police set-up.