MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Myanmar releases two Reuters reporters imprisoned for 500 days

The two reporters, Mr Wa Lone, 33, and Mr Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail

Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free from a prison on the outskirts of Yangon on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind bars, witnesses said. 

The two reporters, Mr Wa Lone, 33, and Mr Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a case that raised questions about Myanmar’s progress towards democracy and sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates.

President Win Myint has pardoned thousands of other prisoners in mass amnesties since last month. It is customary in Myanmar for the authorities to free prisoners across the country around the time of the traditional New Year, which began on April 17. 

Reuters has said the two men did not commit any crime and had called for their release.

Swamped by media and well wishers as they walked through the gates of Insein Prison, on the outskirts of the commercial capital of Yangon, a grinning Mr Wa Lone gave a thumbs up and said he was grateful for the international efforts to secure their freedom. 

“I’m really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues. I can’t wait to go to my newsroom.”

Before their arrest in December 2017, Mr Wa Lone and Mr Kyaw Soe Oo had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State during an army crackdown that began in August 2017. 

The operation sent more than 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, according to United Nations estimates. 

The report the two men authored, featuring testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of the victims, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in May, adding to a number of accolades received by the pair for their journalism.