Aung San Suu Kyi defends jailing of Reuters reporters

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Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday defended the jailing of two Reuters journalists who were reporting on the Rohingya crisis.

Suu Kyi acknowledged that the brutal crackdown on the Muslim minority, which the United Nations has cast as "genocide," could have been "handled better," but insisted the two reporters had been treated fairly.

"They were not jailed because they were journalists" but because "the court has decided that they had broken the Official Secrets Act," she said at a conference of the World Economic Forum in Hanoi.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were each imprisoned for seven years last week for breaching the country's Official Secrets Act while reporting on the military crackdown in Rakhine state.

The pair denied the charges, insisting they were set up while exposing the extra-judicial killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims in the village of Inn Din in September last year.

Journalists Kyaw Soe Oo (L) and Wa Lone (R) being escorted by police, Yangon, Myanmar, September 3, 2018 /VCG Photo

The United Nations, human rights and press freedom groups and various governments criticized the convictions. US Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have called for their release.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley described Suu Kyi's remarks as "unbelievable," in what appeared to be the sharpest direct public rebuke of the Myanmar leader by a US official.

Challenging critics of the verdict to "point out" where there has been a miscarriage of justice, Suu Kyi said the case upheld the rule of law.

"The case was held in open court. I don't think anybody has bothered to read the summary of the judge," she said, adding the pair still had the right to appeal.

Her comments drew an indignant response from rights groups who have urged the Nobel Laureate to press for a presidential pardon for the reporters.

Reuters, in response to Suu Kyi's comments, said in a statement: "We continue to believe that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo did not violate Myanmar's espionage law, and at no point in time were they engaged in activity to hurt their country."

(Cover: Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi attends a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi, September 12, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters