Myanmar court rejects appeal of Reuters journalists jailed under state secrets act

The families of jailed Reuters reporters arrive at the High Court ahead of the ruling in Yangon on Jan. 11. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

January 11 -- The Washington Post

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s High Court rejected Friday the appeal of two Reuters journalists jailed last year on charges of violating the country’s colonial-era secrets law in a case that has drawn widespread condemnation from rights groups, foreign governments and media watchdogs as an attack on a free press.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were sentenced in September to seven years in prison by a district court after a months-long trial in which a key prosecution witness admitted in court that their arrests were a setup. The two journalists were reporting on the situation of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 720,000 Rohingya have fled violence in the country.

High Court Judge Aung Naing called the original conviction a “suitable ruling.”

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