Khin Maung Zaw, lawyer of one of the detained journalists in Myanmar said that, they will appeal one last time for release of the two journalists who sentenced to seven years in jail. “We are going to appeal this morning," Khin Maung Zaw said. from the capital Naypyidaw. "We hope they are not going to reject it."
They were arrested while covering the Rohingya crisis in December 2017. Reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, have been charged with violating the Official Secrets Act. The appeal on Friday is a last chance of a reprieve through the legal system.
The news agency Reuters disputed the charges saying the charge was trumped up to muzzle their reporting into a massacre of Rohingya men.
The two were convicted of possessing classified information regarding security operations in Rakhine state, from where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled during an army-led crackdown the United Nations has described as "ethnic cleansing". The seven-year sentence however was met with outcry over media freedom in Myanmar with calls for immediate release echoing across the world.
The initial appeal for an early release was rejected in January by Yangon's High Court leaving their fate in the hands of judges at the Supreme Court. Under Myanmar law Supreme Court judges hear appeals individually, giving the journalists' lawyers several options.
The process is expected to take several months. Presidential pardon is the only other way obtaining an early release.
Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi refused to intervene in the case describing it as an issue for the courts, despite pressure from rights groups.
The duo who were at the time of arrest probing the extrajudicial killing of 10 Rohingya men at Inn Din village, insist they were victims of a police set-up.
Testimony during the trial from a whistle-blowing officer appeared to validate their claim.
Moe Yan Naing, was initially called as a prosecution witness, but stunned the court by saying superiors had ordered police to entrap the reporters.
Breaking ranks by Naing was extremely rare from a serving member of Myanmar's secretive security apparatus and he was jailed for a year after giving testimony.
On Friday the ex-policeman walked free after serving his sentence at Yangon's Insein prison — where the Reuters reporters are also doing their time.
"I've never broken any police regulations in my life, but the police regulations are not perfect," he told reporters as he left the jail.
