Regardless of the release of the Reuters-journalists, critics of the military are intimidated in Myanmar. Political prisoners are still in jail.
He will definitely continue to work as a Journalist. As a Wa Lone (left), was conducted on Tuesday morning by the prison gates, he said: “I can’t wait to be back in the newsroom.” One and a half years, it seemed, would not want to Myanmar’s government. The Reporter Duo, the Reuters news Agency, was arrested in December 2017, as it worked on a report on a military operation against the minority of the Rohingya.
The UN does not preclude that it could be the military operations in the state of Rakhine in the summer of 2017 to genocide. While in Bangladesh in a week long Exodus arrived, a total of more than 700,000 exhausted and wounded victims, denied in Myanmar, the military and the government all violations of human rights.
Reuters-a Journalist, Kyaw Soe Oo, shortly before the judgment in August 2018
Symbol for freedom of the press
But they had made the bill without Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The two were in the crisis zone offender, confessed to Rohingya murdered. Due to the betrayal of state secrets, the two were sentenced before the eyes of a horrified world community last September to seven years in prison. Observers described the process as at least questionable. State councillor and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi defended the conviction, however, on several occasions in public.
The arrest of the two caused among journalists in Myanmar for a climate of fear. Many gifts, to censor themselves. Research in the crisis region of Rakhine state, were considered to be risky. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have become a worldwide Symbol for freedom of the press. The two won for their significant Research in the past few months, as well as all the journalism awards that there are. Finally, the Reuters was awarded the Team the prestigious Pulitzer prize.
Journalists ‘ associations, celebrities, colleagues, family and friends were one and a half years for the two to come free. “I want to thank all of you who have supported us in prison, and all who have fought around the world for our release,” said Wa Lone on Tuesday morning in front of reporters.
The wives of two journalists at the Time-a Cover of 2018
“The release was long overdue”
The two journalists were in the part of a prisoner Amnesty in Myanmar for the Buddhist new year Tradition, as thousands of dismissed other President Win Myint in the freedom. “The two of you were never arrested, let alone imprisoned. Her release was long overdue,” said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
For the families of the two reporters today, a new life would begin. What will the release mean for journalists and the press freedom in Myanmar, is less clear. “The reality is that Myanmar still holds to a series of repressive laws, and journalists, activists and critics of the state imprisons,” Amnesty International, in a communication to consider.
Head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi had not defended the Reporter
Disappointed by Suu Kyi
Activists also point out that, although the two prominent prisoners were free, but still more than 300 political prisoners have to fear. One of them, a group of young citizens that have been displayed a few weeks ago, for defamation. Their Offense was a public Satire-Performance, in which they criticized the military. One of them is Su Yadanar Myint. As the German wave in 2016, reported on the performances of the young people during the Buddhist new year in Myanmar, she was full of optimism that, under the government of national heroine Aung San Suu Kyi. “It is our government,” she said at the time.