Myanmar frees Reuters’ scribes from jail

May 07, 2019

Myanmar, May 07 (ANI): Two Reuters’ journalists who were jailed in Myanmar for breaking the Official Secrets Act have been freed on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind the bars. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were convicted in September and sentenced to seven years of jail, reported Al Jazeera. The duo was among the 6,250 prisoners who were pardoned by Myanmar President Win Myint. It is customary of the Myanmar authorities to free prisoners during their traditional New Year, which began on April 17. Two Reuters' journalists were detained in December 2017 while they were investigating the Rohingya crisis in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. They were sentenced to seven years each in jail by a Yangon court for the breach of OSA. However, the accused journalists maintained that neither of them had done anything wrong. Their conviction attracted a lot of flak for the Myanmar government. It raised questions over Myanmar's progress toward democracy.