FCC Hong Kong statement on release of Reuters journalists

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong welcomes the release of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who had been jailed for their reporting on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.

Reuters journalists Wa Lone (L) and Kyaw Soe Oo, who are based in Myanmar, pose for a picture at the Reuters office in Yangon, Myanmar December 11, 2017. Picture taken December 11, 2017. REUTERS/Antoni Slodkowski

Over the 16 months the pair spent behind bars, the FCC Hong Kong and other press organisations had repeatedly called for the charges to be dropped and for the two men to return home to their families. They were only doing their jobs, and had not committed any crimes.

The FCC Hong Kong congratulates them on their long overdue freedom and reunion with their families.

Reporters in Myanmar continue to face prosecution for public-interest reporting as well as pressure to self-censor, even under the elected civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who had been the country’s most famous political prisoner for many years.

The FCC Hong Kong continues to call on Suu Kyi and her administration to support press freedom and ensure that journalists are able to work without threat of retaliation.