Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 4 sepTember 2018

Myanmar court sentences Reuters reporters to 7 years in jail

By VICTORIA MILKO the torching of hundreds of
AUNG NAING SOE Rohingya villages."
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) The new U.N. human rights
— A Myanmar court sen- chief, former Chilean Presi-
tenced two Reuters journal- dent Michelle Bachelet,
ists to seven years in prison called the trial a "travesty
Monday on charges of il- of justice" and said she
legal possession of official would urge the Myanmar
documents, a ruling met government to release the
with international condem- journalists immediately.
nation that will add to out- Dozens of journalists and
rage over the military's hu- pro-democracy activ-
man rights abuses against ists marched Saturday in
Rohingya Muslims. Yangon, Myanmar's big-
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo gest city, in support of the
had been reporting on the reporters. But in the coun-
brutal crackdown on the try at large, with an over-
Rohingya when they were whelming Buddhist major-
arrested and charged with ity, there is widespread
violating the colonial-era prejudice against the Ro-
Official Secrets Act, pun- hingya, and in the govern-
ishable by up to 14 years ment and military, there is
in prison. They had plead- In this combination image made from two photos, Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, near-xenophobic sensitivity
are handcuffed as they are escorted by police out of the court Monday, Sept. 3, 2018, in Yangon,
ed not guilty, contending Myanmar. to foreign criticism.
that they were framed by Associated Press Myanmar's courts are one
police."Today is a sad day of the country's most con-
for Myanmar, Reuters jour- As the verdict was an- treatment during their initial cide was rejected by servative and nationalistic
nalists Wa Lone and Kyaw nounced in the hot Yangon interrogations after their ar- Myanmar's government, institutions, and the dark-
Soe Oo, and the press courtroom, Kyaw Soe Oo's rests last December. Their but is the most serious of- ened political atmosphere
everywhere," Stephen J. wife started crying, lean- several appeals for release ficial recommendation for had seemed unlikely to
Adler, Reuters editor-in- ing into the lap of the per- on bail were rejected. Wa prosecution so far. Also last help the reporters' cause.
chief, said in a statement. son next to her. Outside the Lone's wife, Pan Ei Mon, week, Facebook banned The court earlier this year
He said the charges were court, police and journal- gave birth to the couple's Myanmar's powerful mili- declined to stop the trial
"designed to silence their ists shouted as the two Re- first child in Yangon on Aug. tary chief and 19 other in- after an initial phase of
reporting and intimidate uters reporters were led to 10, but Wa Lone has not yet dividuals and organizations presentation of evidence,
the press." a truck to be taken away. seen his daughter. from its site to prevent the even though a policeman
The case has drawn world- "This is unfair," Wa Lone told The two journalists had spread of hate and misin- called as a prosecution wit-
wide attention as an ex- the crowd. "I want to say been reporting last year on formation in connection ness testified that his com-
ample of how democratic they are obviously threat- the brutal crackdown by with the Rohingya crisis. mander had ordered that
reforms in long-isolated ening our democracy and security forces on the Ro- "Today's verdict cannot documents be planted
Myanmar have stalled destroying freedom of the hingya in Myanmar's Rakh- conceal the truth of what on the journalists. After his
under the civilian govern- press in our country." ine state. Some 700,000 Ro- happened in Rakhine testimony, the officer was
ment of Nobel Peace Prize Kevin Krolicki, Reuters re- hingya fled to neighboring state," Tirana Hassan, Am- jailed for a year for violat-
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, gional editor for Asia, said Bangladesh to escape the nesty International's direc- ing police regulations and
which took power in 2016. outside the court that it was violence targeting them af- tor of crisis response, said his family was kicked out of
Though the military, which "heartbreaking for friends ter attacks by Rohingya mil- in a statement Monday. police housing.
ruled the country for a half- and colleagues and fam- itants killed a dozen mem- "It's thanks to the bravery of Other testimony by pros-
century, maintains control ily of Wa Lone and Kyaw bers of the security forces. journalists like Wa Lone and ecution witnesses was con-
of several key ministries, Soe Oo, who in addition to Investigators working for Kyaw Soe Oo, that the mili- tradictory, and the docu-
Suu Kyi's rise to govern- the outrage many will feel, the U.N.'s top human rights tary's atrocities have been ments presented as evi-
ment had raised hopes for are deprived of their friends body said last week that exposed. Instead of target- dence against the reporters
an accelerated transition and colleagues, husband genocide charges should ing these two journalists, appeared to be neither se-
to full democracy and her and father." be brought against senior the Myanmar authorities cret nor sensitive. The jour-
stance on the Rohingya cri- Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Myanmar military officers should have been going nalists testified they did not
sis has disappointed many Soe Oo, 28, both testified over the crackdown. after those responsible for solicit or knowingly possess
former admirers. they suffered from harsh The accusation of geno- killings, rape, torture and any secret documents.q