YANGON: A global outcry over the jailing of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar has been greeted with silence by civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a stony response that an official defended Tuesday as a reluctance to criticize the judiciary.
Journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested while reporting on atrocities committed during the violent expulsion by the military of some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims last year.
A Yangon court on Monday found them guilty under the Official Secrets Act and handed them each seven years in prison, sparking outrage from the UN, EU and US — all of whom supported Myanmar’s emergence from decades of junta rule — as well as media and rights groups.
Suu Kyi, who was herself subjected to house arrest for some 15 years, relying on foreign media to highlight her plight, has been widely-condemned for her silence on the case and verdict, which has posed the sternest test in recent years to free speech in the country.
Aung Hla Tun, a former Reuters journalist who now works for the government as deputy Minister of Information, defended the Nobel Laureate’s reticence.
“Criticizing the judicial system would be tantamount to contempt of court,” he said, explaining her silence so far. “I don’t think she will do it.”
Lawyers for the pair will appeal the verdict while ultimately the country’s president, a close ally of Suu Kyi, can pardon prisoners.
In April the president granted 8,500 jailed people an amnesty, including 36 deemed political prisoners.
But there were still some 200 others, including the two Reuters journalists, facing trials linked to political activities, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said at the time.
Erstwhile Suu Kyi advocates overseas have been left dismayed by her attitude to their case so far.
Her one public reference to the Reuters journalists during the court case — telling Japanese broadcaster NHK that the pair had broken the official secrets act — was criticized by rights groups for potentially prejudicing the verdict.
Former confidant and member of her advisory board on the Rohingya crisis US diplomat Bill Richardson alleged she also denounced the two reporters as traitors during a heated exchange at the beginning of the year.
While the case has horrified the West, the response within Myanmar has been muted.
Several papers marked the jailing of the pair with ‘7 Day News’ publishing a large black rectangle on its front page and the Myanmar Times running a full front-page photo of the pair calling the verdict “a blow to press freedom.”
But the case has not garnered wider public attention, despite its implications for press freedom in a country, whose emergence from junta rule has been contorted by the violence in Rakhine.
Myanmar defends Suu Kyi’s silence over jailed reporters
Myanmar defends Suu Kyi’s silence over jailed reporters
- Journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested while reporting on atrocities committed during the violent expulsion of some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims last year
- A Yangon court on Monday found them guilty under the Official Secrets Act and handed them each seven years in prison
Czech Prime Minister Babiš faces confidence vote as government shifts Ukraine policy
- “I’d like to make it clear that the Czech Republic and Czech citizens will be first for our government,” Babiš said
- Babiš has rejected any financial aid for Ukraine and guarantees for EU loans
PRAGUE: The Czech Republic’s new government led by populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was set to face a mandatory confidence vote in Parliament over its agenda aimed at steering the country away from supporting Ukraine and rejecting some key European Union policies.
The debate in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, where the coalition has a majority of 108 seats, began Tuesday. Every new administration must win the vote to govern.
Babiš, previously prime minister in two governments from 2017-2021, and his ANO, or YES, movement, won big in the country’s October election and formed a majority coalition with two small political groups, the Freedom and Direct Democracy anti-migrant party and the right-wing Motorists for Themselves.
The parties, which share admiration for US President Donald Trump, created a 16-member Cabinet.
“I’d like to make it clear that the Czech Republic and Czech citizens will be first for our government,” Babiš said in his speech in the lower house.
The political comeback by Babiš and his new alliance with two small government newcomers are expected to significantly redefine the nation’s foreign and domestic policies.
Unlike the previous pro-Western government, Babiš has rejected any financial aid for Ukraine and guarantees for EU loans to the country fighting the Russian invasion, joining the ranks of Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia.
But his government would not abandon a Czech initiative that managed to acquire some 1.8 million much-needed artillery shells for Ukraine only last year on markets outside the EU on condition the Czechs would only administer it but would not contribute money.
The Freedom party sees no future for the Czechs in the EU and NATO, and wants to expel most of 380,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country.
The Motorists, who are in charge of the environment and foreign ministries, rejected the EU Green Deal and proposed revivals of the coal industry.
