A “grotesque and outrageous miscarriage of justice” is how Christian Solidarity Worldwide‘s Benedict Rogers has characterised the jailing of two journalists in Myanmar this week as the organisation issued a call for their immediate release.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were both sentenced to seven years in prison after they charged with violating the country’s official secrets legislation. They had been instrumental in exposing a massacre of Rohingya Muslims which took place in Rakhine state in Myanmar (also known as Burma) last year.
The jailing of the two men has sparked an outcry around the world with UN Human Rights head Michelle Bachelet saying she was “shocked” when she heard the news.
Rogers, East Asia team leader for CSW, said the sentence handed down to the two men was “a grotesque and outrageous miscarriage of justice, which fundamentally undermines the prospects of democratisation” in the country.
“Without press freedom, there is no democracy, and with the perpetrators of crimes against humanity continuing to commit gross violations of human rights with impunity while those who legitimately expose their crimes are imprisoned for doing so, there is no rule of law,” he said in a statement.
“It is Burma’s generals, not its journalists, who should be on trial, and the decision to jail these two brave and remarkable reporters is an abhorrent decision. We call for this appalling verdict to be reversed and for the two journalists to be released immediately.”
Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since August last year following a military crackdown in Myanmar. A recent UN fact-finding mission called for top military generals in Myanmar to be investigated for genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Myanmar’s government rejected the findings of the report.
