Myanmar's top court to hear Reuters reporters' appeal in official secrets case

Myanmar’s Supreme Court was scheduled on Tuesday to hear the appeal of two Reuters journalists imprisoned for breaking a colonial-era official secrets law, in a case that has raised questions about Myanmar’s progress towards democracy, according to Reuters.

Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have spent more than 15 months in detention since they were arrested in December 2017, while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslim civilians involving Myanmar soldiers.

A judge found the two guilty under the Official Secrets Act last September and sentenced them to seven years in prison.

Both remain separated from their young daughters.

The wife of 32-year-old Wa Lone gave birth to their first child last year while Wa Lone was behind bars.

Kyaw Soe Oo celebrated his 29th birthday in Yangon’s Insein jail this month.

Their convictions were heavily criticized by press freedom advocates and Western diplomats, putting additional pressure on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who took power in 2016 amid a transition from military rule.

Suu Kyi said in September, the week after their conviction, that the reporters’ case had nothing to do with press freedom as the men had been jailed for handling official secrets, not because they were journalists.