SOPA calls for Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to be freed without delay

 

Today marks a year since Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in Myanmar while investigating the killing by security forces of Rohingya villagers.   The journalists were jailed for seven years in September after being convicted of breaching a colonial-era official secrets law.

The Society of Publishers in Asia joins many other media organisations and press freedom advocates around the world in calling for the immediate release of the two journalists, who were simply doing their job.

Wa Lone was among Reuters reporters who won the inaugural SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism in June for their outstanding coverage of the Rohingya crisis.  As one of the judges said at the time: “The Reuters team braved considerable danger to document the atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya. But for its efforts, one of the biggest humanitarian disasters of our times would not have been made known to the world.”

Journalists must be allowed to operate freely and safely.  We call for the two journalists to be freed without delay.

#FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo read more here.