Daily Times

Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is now complicit in crimes against journalists reporting from the war-struck state of Rakhine in Myanmar.

Two Reuters journalists were detained by the police after they were called for a meeting under the pretence of offering information in They have now been charged under the Official Secrets Act of 1923 which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, if convicted. The two journalists have vowed to face the charges filed against them using a draconian law that effectively treats journalists as spies.

Reuters has rejected that the journalists were involved in any wrongdoing, and rights groups have called for their immediate release.

This development betrays a deep-seated fear in Myanmar’s government about disclosure of information from the ground in the Rakhine state, revealing to the world atrocities committed against the persecuted Rohingya community. That the journalists associated with an agency renowned for its commitment to high standards of reporting were detained only goes to demonstrate the impunity and high-handedness of the current regime.

In a report released by the Myanmar authorities following an internal investigation, the country’s army has denied involvement in incidents of murders and rapes or of setting Rohingya villages alight in the fighting that has led to 400 deaths and over 655,000 displacements since August 2017.

The crisis has been termed as ‘a textbook example of ethnic cleansing’ by the UN. Despite this, the Myanmar government has denied allegations and continued to trivialise the matter. It has also denied entry to aid organisations for helping those migrating to neighbouring Bangladesh.

It is appalling that Myanmar is treating those covering the atrocities in Rakhine in such a way. Press freedom has faced severe constraints as the military has banned journalists from reporting from the state.

The height of violence in Rakhine state has declined but unbiased investigations by international observers remain to be started. The arrest of the two journalists must draw attention of international and regional powers and multilateral bodies towards the situation. *

Published in Daily Times, January 12^th 2018.