Reuters Reporters’ Arrest Plot

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STUTI AICH

Hardly a fortnight ago, President Win Myint granted Amnesty to prisoners in Myanmar on Maha Thingyan’.

The ‘pardon’ however excluded the two Reuters Journalists who had been arrested on charges of violating a state secrets law.

The two journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested, while investigating the massacre of 10 Muslim men at Inn Din village in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township in September last. In a merciless military operation in Northern Rakhaine, the innocent were butchered and thousands of Rohingyas fled in terror to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Reuters reporter Wa Lone talks to reporters as he leaves court in Yangon, Myanmar, Dec. 27, 2017. © Reuters

The gory killings, were documented and published by Reuters in February.

In uncovering the massacre, the two reporters obtained photos of the 10 victims kneeling before their execution with their hands tied behind their backs. They also found the mass grave where the victims were buried.

Shortly after the arrest, the military admitted its soldiers had been involved in the killings.

Security forces in Rakhine have been accused of serious human rights violations, including rape and extrajudicial killings, against the persecuted ethnic Rohingya Muslims. Last week, Myanmar’s military announced it had sentenced seven soldiers to 10 years in prison for their part in the killings, a case covered by the two reporters.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been detained since Dec. 12 on charges that could get them up to 14 years in prison.

The reporters were arrested after meeting two police officers at a Yangon restaurant, who gave them some rolled-up papers.

Their lawyers said that they were arrested so quickly that they never had a chance to look at them.

 

Situation took an unprecedented turn when, Myanmar Police officer Captain Moe Yan Naingha testified that he along with his colleagues had been pressurised by the Government to frame and arrest the two journalists. Speaking in Insein Township Court as a witness for the prosecution, he said that he had been threatened with arrest if he refused to execute the plot for entrapping Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo at a Yangon restaurant on December 12 last year

 

The prosecution contended that the papers contained secret information and the fact that the reporters possessed them showed their intent to undermine the country’s security.

However, the situation took an unprecedented turn when, Myanmar Police officer Captain Moe Yan Naingha testified that he along with his colleagues had been pressurised by the Government to frame and arrest the two journalists.

Speaking in Insein Township Court as a witness for the prosecution, he said that he had been threatened with arrest if he refused to execute the plot for entrapping Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo at a Yangon restaurant on December 12 last year. He further added that orders to trap the pair were given by Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko.

These 10 Rohingya victims kneeling before their execution with their hands tied behind their backs at Inn Din village in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township in September last year. © Reuters

The reason why I testified the truth was because police should have their own standard and dignity,” Moe Yan Naing told reporters outside the courtroom after testifying as a prosecution witness. “Whatever I testified was the truth.”

He was able to speak to the media only briefly before being led away by a plainclothes security official. He has been under arrest since Dec. 12, apparently for having spoken to Wa Lone the month before.

Defense lawyer U Than Zaw Aung, said Moe Yan Naing was one of the two police officers arrested in December for allegedly giving confidential documents to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The other officer arrested with him, who has not yet testified, is Polce Corporal Khin Maung Lin. The defense lawyer expressed deep concern regarding Captain Moe Yan Naing’s safety too.

The case has drawn international attention, with high–profile rights lawyer Amal Clooney recently joining the legal team representing the jailed journalists. The United States, Britain and Canada, as well as the United Nations, have called for freedom for the reporters.

Reuters issued a statement after the hearing saying that the court had “finally heard the truth.”

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said he would not comment on the proceedings because the judiciary is independent and the trial is ongoing.

As Wa Lone left court on Friday, he said, “The truth has emerged”. ■

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