After a long silence, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has finally spoken about the arrest of the two Reuters journalists. She has, in effect, defended the jailing of the two journalists by saying that their jailing had nothing to do with freedom of expression.
Suu Kyi made her comments at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi in response to a question from the forum moderator who asked whether she felt comfortable about the reporters being jailed.
Suu Kyi said: “They were not jailed because they were journalists, they were jailed because... the court has decided that they have broken the Official Secrets Act.”
She also said that the two can appeal their seven-year sentence. The journalists, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were found guilty on official secrets charges and sentenced earlier this month in a landmark case seen as a test of progress towards democracy in Myanmar.
The arrests had prompted international outporuing of support. They were investigating the killing of Rohingya villagers by security forces t the time of their arrest. The two maintained their innocence and have claimed that they were set up by the police.
“I wonder whether very many people have actually read the summary of the judgement which had nothing to do with freedom of expression at all, it had to do with an Official Secrets Act,” Suu Kyi said.
“If we believe in the rule of law, they have every right to appeal the judgment and to point out why the judgement was wrong.”
When asked to comment on the calls to release the journalists, Suu Kyi responded by asking if the critics felt there had been a miscarriage of justice.
“The case has been held in open court and all the hearings have been open to everybody who wished to go and attend them and if anybody feels there has been a miscarraige of justice I would like them to point it out,” she said.
Earlier, Suu Kyi had also said that her government could have handled the Rohingya situation better. “There are of course ways in which we, with hindsight, might think that the situation could have been handled better,” Suu Kyi said. “But we believe that for the sake of long-term stability and security we have to be fair to all sides...We cannot choose and pick who should be protected by the rule of law.”
About 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Rakhine after security forces led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
