Two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar under the country’s Official Secrets Act in January were denied bail at a Yangon court on Thursday.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested on Dec. 12 for allegedly possessing documents pertaining to a military crackdown in the country’s restive Rakhine State.
They face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
“Our bail application was rejected,’’ Wa Lone told newsmen outside court as he was transported back to prison.
According to Wa Lone’s wife Panei Mon, they already expected that they will not get the bail but it hurts to know it.
“I even cleaned the house to welcome him,’’ Panei Mon stressed.
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The UN’s special rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee called for the pair’s immediate release and denounced Myanmar’s failure to “usher in a new era of openness and transparency and is instead persisting with repressive practices of the past.”
“Their fearless work highlights the absolutely invaluable role of independent journalism,’’ she said of the two journalists at a press conference in Seoul to deliver her end of mission report.
Media reports said with no fewer than 11 journalists were arrested in 2017 alone, one-time democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been accused of backsliding in press freedom since her National League for Democracy party took power in 2016.
