Canada is deeply concerned by a Myanmar court decision on Monday charging two jailed Reuters journalists with obtaining secret state documents and moving the landmark press freedom case into its trial stage after six months of preliminary hearings, said Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said.
Yangon district judge Ye Lwin charged reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, with breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
“This decision casts a dark shadow on press freedom and human rights in Myanmar,” Freeland, a former journalist, said in a statement Monday. “Canada joins with the international community in continuing to call for the journalists’ immediate release.”
The judge said the court had filed charges against both reporters under section 3.1 (c) of the act to probe the prosecution’s allegations that they collected and obtained secret documents pertaining to the security forces with the intention to harm national security.
Both journalists pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, telling the judge they had “followed journalistic ethics”.
“Respect for human rights and freedom of the press are essential,” Freeland said. “To charge the Reuters journalists under these circumstances gravely undermines freedom of expression.”
Journalists must have the ability to report facts to the public without obstruction or risk of violence and imprisonment, added Freeland, formerly an editor at Reuters.
Earlier this month, defense lawyers said the journalists were arrested in a sting operation by the police that was aimed at interfering with their reporting.
At the time of their arrest in December, the reporters had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The killings took place during a military crackdown that United Nations agencies say led to more than 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.
“We commend Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for bravely documenting the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, a crime against humanity that must not be covered up,” said Freeland.
With files from Reuters
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