YANGON: Prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has joined the legal team representing two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar, who are accused of possessing secret government papers, her office said on Thursday.
A court in Yangon has been holding preliminary hearings since January to decide whether Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, will be charged under the colonial-era Officials Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
The journalists had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state during an army crackdown that began in August, which has sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.
Lawyers for the two reporters on Wednesday asked the court to throw out the case, saying there was insufficient evidence to support charges against the pair.
“Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are being prosecuted simply because they reported the news. I have reviewed the case file and it is clear beyond doubt that the two journalists are innocent and should be released immediately,” Amal Clooney was quoted as saying in a statement released by her office.
“The outcome of this case will tell us a lot about Myanmar’s commitment to the rule of law and freedom of speech,” said Clooney, who is married to actor George Clooney.
Zaw Htay, spokesman for Myanmar’s civilian government, declined to comment.
Government officials have previously denied the arrests represent an attack on press freedom, which rights advocates say is under growing threat in the Southeast Asian country.
Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, Hau Do Suan, said last month that the Reuters journalists were not arrested for reporting a story, but were accused of “illegally possessing confidential government documents.”
Gail Gove, chief counsel of Reuters, said retaining Clooney would strengthen the company’s international legal expertise and broaden efforts to secure the release of the reporters.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been in custody since their arrest on Dec. 12.
The pair have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some rolled up papers at a restaurant in northern Yangon by two policemen they had not met before, having been invited to meet the officers for dinner.
The district court in northern Yangon will hear arguments from prosecutors and defense lawyers on the motion to dismiss the case on April 4.
Rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent Reuters reporters held in Myanmar
Rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent Reuters reporters held in Myanmar
Media watchdog urges probe after gunmen attack home of Pakistani journalist
- Ihsan Khattak’s home came under fire by gunmen in February
- CPJ, 17 rights groups say legal and other changes causing ‘fear’
LONDON: Media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday urged Pakistani authorities to investigate a shooting attack on the home of journalist Ihsan Khattak.
On Feb. 12, at about 9:45 p.m., unidentified gunmen opened fire on the main gate of Khattak’s house in Kotka Jandar Khel village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district. The assailants fled and Khattak was not injured.
“Pakistani authorities must thoroughly investigate the attack on Ihsan Khattak’s home, identify the gunmen, and hold them to account,” said the CPJ’s Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become increasingly dangerous for journalists and this type of brazen intimidation cannot stand. Journalists must be able to work safely so they can provide the public with information.”
Khattak, a Bannu-based correspondent for ARY News and former president of the Bannu Press Club, has faced threats before.
On Feb. 5, three armed men on a motorbike followed him from a reporting assignment, forcing him to speed away in his car, he told the CPJ.
In 2017, after receiving threats from an unknown caller, he relocated to Islamabad. He said the threats resumed after he returned to Bannu in 2023.
Bannu Deputy Inspector General of Police Sajjad Khan told the CPJ that an investigation had been opened into the shooting and that police were committed to ensuring journalists’ security.
The incident comes as the CPJ and 17 other press freedom and human rights groups this week urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take urgent steps to “uphold the country’s constitutional and international obligations” to protect media freedom.
They warned that recent legal and institutional changes, combined with “persistent failures” to hold perpetrators accountable, have deepened a climate of fear for journalists.
Pakistan, ranked 158th in the 2025 press freedom index, is considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, with growing self-censorship, digital controls and widespread impunity for attacks on media workers.
The appeal also follows a sharp escalation in regional tensions: on Friday, Pakistan said it had carried out strikes on Taliban government forces in several Afghan cities — its first direct attacks on its former allies —describing the situation as “open war.”
