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Around the region: SEAPA, AJI condemn jailing of journalists

Long prison sentences for two journalists in Myanmar send a stark warning about press freedom in the country, journalists’ alliances said on Monday

The Jakarta Post
Indonesia
Tue, September 4, 2018

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Around the region: SEAPA, AJI condemn jailing of journalists

L

ong prison sentences for two journalists in Myanmar send a stark warning about press freedom in the country, journalists’ alliances said on Monday.

Journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo covered alleged crimes against humanity on the Rohingya in Rakhine state.

A court found them guilty of breaching Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing documents relating to security forces in Rakhine state and sentenced them to seven years behind bars on Monday.

Prior to their arrest in December last year, the pair had been working on Reuters’ investigative coverage of military operations in northern Rakhine, which were marked by alleged crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya population.

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) demanded that the verdict be reversed, the men freed, and that the Myanmar government “drop all charges against them”. “Freedom of expression, including the media’s right to report freely and immediately, is extremely vital to the pursuit of a successful political reform agenda and peace process that are direly needed in Myanmar today,” it said in a statement.

SEAPA’s statement was echoed by the Alliance of Independent Journalism (AJI). “The verdict was a systematic measure by the [Myanmar] government to silence press freedom in the country,” AJI chairman Abdul Manan told The Jakarta Post.

He added that “solidarity” among ASEAN countries, which sometimes was interpreted as not criticizing each other’s government, should not be an excuse for the association not to speak up against violations of basic rights, including press freedom.

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