YANGON: A global outcry over the jailing of two Reuters reporters has been met with silence from Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a stony reaction that an authentic defended Tuesday as a reluctance to criticise the judiciary.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had been arrested whilst reporting on atrocities committed throughout the bloody expulsion by means of the army of a few 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims closing 12 months.
A Yangon courtroom on Monday found them guilty underneath the Official Secrets Act and passed them each seven years in prison, sparking outrage from the UN, EU and US as well as media and rights groups.
Suu Kyi was herself subjected to house arrest for some 15 years, depending on international media to focus on her plight.
A UN record closing week accused her of failing to make use of her ethical authority to stem the violence closing 12 months and referred to as for the generals to be prosecuted for "genocide".
Her silence on this case and the decision -- the sternest test in recent times to free speech in the country -- has shredded her reputation even additional.
But Aung Hla Tun, a former Reuters journalist who now works for the government as deputy Minister of Information, defended the Nobel Laureate's reticence.
"Criticising the judicial system would be tantamount to contempt of court," he advised AFP. "I don't think she will do it."
A whistleblowing policeman had corroborated the defence argument that the reporters had been entrapped by means of police, who passed them documents over dinner in a while before their arrest.
But the judge selected to ignore the testimony.
Lawyers for the pair will appeal the decision although the lengthy process may take months, if not years.
The country's president, a detailed best friend of Suu Kyi, may additionally pardon the reporters but professionals say any rapid intervention is not likely.
In April eight,500 folks had been set free in an amnesty, together with 36 deemed to be political prisoners but there have been nonetheless some 200 others, together with the two Reuters reporters, dealing with trials linked to political activities.
Erstwhile Suu Kyi advocates out of the country had been left dismayed by means of her perspective to the reporters' ordeal so far.
Her one public reference to the Reuters reporters throughout the courtroom case -- telling Japanese broadcaster NHK that the pair had broken the Official Secrets Act -- was criticised by means of rights groups for probably prejudicing the decision.
US diplomat Bill Richardson, a former confidant and member of her advisory board on the Rohingya crisis, alleged she additionally denounced the two reporters as traitors throughout a heated change originally of the 12 months.
While the case horrified the West, locally it garnered little public consideration in spite of its implications for press freedom.
Response to the jailing was mixed.
State-backed media slightly mentioned the decision Tuesday although other papers stood in unity with the reporters.
A newsletter referred to as 7Day News branded it a "sad day" for Myanmar and carried a large black rectangle on its front web page.
The English model of the Myanmar Times ran a complete front-page photograph of Kyaw Soe Oo, calling the decision "a blow to press freedom" although its Myanmar-language sister paper was more muted, simply urging the overhaul of out of date rules.
On Facebook -- the prime source of stories for plenty of in a rustic that most effective lately got here on-line -- comments had been overwhelmingly stacked in opposition to the reporters, accusing them of bias and some even calling for a harsher sentence.
Offline, in central Yangon, sympathy was easier to search out.
"I feel sorry for the journalists," businessman Thet Aung Htike advised AFP. "I hope the president will give them an amnesty."
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had been arrested whilst reporting on atrocities committed throughout the bloody expulsion by means of the army of a few 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims closing 12 months.
A Yangon courtroom on Monday found them guilty underneath the Official Secrets Act and passed them each seven years in prison, sparking outrage from the UN, EU and US as well as media and rights groups.
Suu Kyi was herself subjected to house arrest for some 15 years, depending on international media to focus on her plight.
A UN record closing week accused her of failing to make use of her ethical authority to stem the violence closing 12 months and referred to as for the generals to be prosecuted for "genocide".
Her silence on this case and the decision -- the sternest test in recent times to free speech in the country -- has shredded her reputation even additional.
But Aung Hla Tun, a former Reuters journalist who now works for the government as deputy Minister of Information, defended the Nobel Laureate's reticence.
"Criticising the judicial system would be tantamount to contempt of court," he advised AFP. "I don't think she will do it."
A whistleblowing policeman had corroborated the defence argument that the reporters had been entrapped by means of police, who passed them documents over dinner in a while before their arrest.
But the judge selected to ignore the testimony.
Lawyers for the pair will appeal the decision although the lengthy process may take months, if not years.
The country's president, a detailed best friend of Suu Kyi, may additionally pardon the reporters but professionals say any rapid intervention is not likely.
In April eight,500 folks had been set free in an amnesty, together with 36 deemed to be political prisoners but there have been nonetheless some 200 others, together with the two Reuters reporters, dealing with trials linked to political activities.
Erstwhile Suu Kyi advocates out of the country had been left dismayed by means of her perspective to the reporters' ordeal so far.
Her one public reference to the Reuters reporters throughout the courtroom case -- telling Japanese broadcaster NHK that the pair had broken the Official Secrets Act -- was criticised by means of rights groups for probably prejudicing the decision.
US diplomat Bill Richardson, a former confidant and member of her advisory board on the Rohingya crisis, alleged she additionally denounced the two reporters as traitors throughout a heated change originally of the 12 months.
While the case horrified the West, locally it garnered little public consideration in spite of its implications for press freedom.
Response to the jailing was mixed.
State-backed media slightly mentioned the decision Tuesday although other papers stood in unity with the reporters.
A newsletter referred to as 7Day News branded it a "sad day" for Myanmar and carried a large black rectangle on its front web page.
The English model of the Myanmar Times ran a complete front-page photograph of Kyaw Soe Oo, calling the decision "a blow to press freedom" although its Myanmar-language sister paper was more muted, simply urging the overhaul of out of date rules.
On Facebook -- the prime source of stories for plenty of in a rustic that most effective lately got here on-line -- comments had been overwhelmingly stacked in opposition to the reporters, accusing them of bias and some even calling for a harsher sentence.
Offline, in central Yangon, sympathy was easier to search out.
"I feel sorry for the journalists," businessman Thet Aung Htike advised AFP. "I hope the president will give them an amnesty."
Myanmar defends Suu Kyi's silence over jailed reporters
![Myanmar defends Suu Kyi's silence over jailed reporters]()
Reviewed by Kailash
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September 04, 2018
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