Myanmar Court Rejects Appeal of Jailed Reuters Reporters

Judge Aung Naing said lawyers for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo failed to submit enough evidence to prove their innocence.

Image used for representational purposes only.

(Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

A court in Myanmar has rejected the appeal of two Reuters journalists convicted of violating the country's Official Secrets Act, and maintained the seven-year prison terms they were sentenced to last year.

Judge Aung Naing said on Friday, 11 January, that lawyers for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo failed to submit enough evidence to prove their innocence.

The men were convicted for having government documents in their possession.

They were arrested on 12 December 2017, in the country's main city, Yangon, immediately after having a meal to which police officers had invited them.

They and their supporters say they were framed by police because of official displeasure over their reporting on the brutal crackdown by security forces on minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine state.