Myanmar Releases 2 Journalists After 511 Days For Reporting Against Rohingya Massacre

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Journalists

Two Reuter’s journalists who were jailed in Myanmar have been finally released today, long after spending 511 days behind the bars. The duo namely as Wa Lone and Kyae Soe OO were convicted of breaking OSA (Official Secret Act) and were sentenced to be in jail for seven years.

Prior to this, they were actually investigating a case in which ten Rohangiya Muslim men got killed by the country’s military which is accused of wide spread human rights violations against Rohangiya’s.

After the genocide reports were out in the public domain, it invoked huge criticism to the country’s democratic set up, and its ”so called” liberal institutions, which were internationally held responsible for hunting the crippled down Muslim minority in place by many diplomats and human rights groups including Amnesty International.

Last year in Rakhine state around 73000 Rohangiya Muslims escape the place in fear. They fled over the boundaries of neighbouring countries like Bangladesh. Many even went to India to live in slums.

Following the mass exodus of the community and brutal killings, the issue got an International outrage and the Noble peace prize laurite Aung San Su KI who heads the country was castigated.

San Su Ki, didn’t even uttered a single word of condemnation against the mass genocide, however defended the military actions against the Rohingyas. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority country.

While working amid the disdainful environment, the two journalists authored a report which held the security forces as perpetrators of impunity to commit crimes against the marginalized folks of Rakhine state.

They were even awarded with the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting amidst the challenging situations.  In an early morning of Tuesday the duo were released after the highly fostered outcry in international arena against continues detention of duo under State’s Official Secret Act.

Talking to the press present there, one of the journalists said that he was a journalist before going to jail, and after being released he is going to be so for the rest of his life.

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