Two Reuters journalists have been found guilty in Myanmar of illegal possession of official documents and sentenced to seven years in prison. It is an egregious abuse of power by the Myanmar government. It is especially outrageous that State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the real leader of the country, has turned a blind eye to this miscarriage of justice, even though she was similarly punished as a dissident. The silence of other governments is equally shameful.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, a colonial-era law that controls access to information. They were investigating the campaign of brutality — some call it ethnic cleansing — against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of whom have been forced from the country. The government crackdown followed attacks by an underground Rohingya guerrilla group on Myanmar security forces in August 2017. The military responded forcefully: Human rights groups allege widespread abuses including rape, torture, murder and the torching of Rohingya villages.
The two journalists were covering the response — in particular the murders of 10 Rohingya men and boys — and claim that they were given documents by police officers and arrested moments later. Their claim to have been set up was confirmed during the trial when a policeman called as a prosecution witness testified that a superior ordered him to plant documents on the journalists. That officer was then jailed for violating police regulations. Despite this, the contradictory testimony of other prosecution witnesses and the fact that documents given to the journalists were not secret, the trial proceeded and concluded with convictions.