Two Reuters journalists are back with their families and colleagues Tuesday after being released from prison in Myanmar after President Win Myint issued a blanket pardon for thousands of prisoners.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been sentenced to seven years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act.

The pair were investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya by police and soldiers in the village of Inn Din at the time of their arrest in 2017.

Their colleagues watched and cheered as Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo walked free Tuesday.

"We're really happy and excited to see our family and colleagues. I don't know what to say, we're very excited." Wa Lone said after his release.

"I really want to meet my family and I am supposed to go to the cinema with my family tonight," Kyaw Soe Oo told reporters.

Their long awaited reunion with the families, comes just two weeks after Myanmar’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal of their convictions. . At one point in their trial, a law enforcement official testified he planted documents on the two men.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for their work in uncovering the massacre, which they shared with two colleagues who completed the story after their conviction. </s> YANGON, Myanmar – Two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for breaking Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act over reporting on security forces’ abuses of Rohingya Muslims were pardoned and released Tuesday, the prison chief and witnesses said.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were freed after President Win Myint issued a blanket pardon for 6,520 prisoners, said Zaw Zaw, chief of Yangon’s Insein Prison.

Myanmar’s Supreme Court on April 23 rejected the journalists’ final appeal against their seven-year prison terms. Their convictions were related to reporting on security forces’ abuses of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The reporters and their supporters had said they were framed because of official displeasure over their reporting.

“We are enormously pleased that Myanmar has released our courageous reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo,” said a statement issued by Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler. “Since their arrests 511 days ago, they have become symbols of the importance of press freedom around the world. We welcome their return.”

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, last month shared with their Reuters colleagues the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, one of journalism’s highest honors.

Myanmar’s military launched a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in the western state of Rakhine in 2017, driving more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.

The Reuters reporters had worked on an investigation of the killings of 10 Rohingya villagers in Inn Din village, for which the government last year said seven soldiers were sentenced to up 10 years in prison with hard labor.

The reporters were arrested in December 2017 and sentenced last September after being accused of illegally possessing official documents, a violation of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

Family members of the two freed men were elated.

Chit Su Win, the wife of Kyaw Soe Oo, said she was waiting at home with their child to be reunited with her husband.

She said she doesn’t know how to express her feelings, but “Now the three of us can hug each other and we are so happy for that.”

Thura Aung, the brother of Wa Lone said, “We’re so happy that they got released today. We heard that they would be on the amnesty list. Now it is actually happening, I am so glad for that.”

The United Nations office in Myanmar said it welcomed the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.

“The U.N. in Myanmar considers the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo a step toward improving the freedom of the press and a sign of Government’s commitment to Myanmar’s transition to democracy,” it said in an emailed statement. </s> Two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in December 2017 and accused of breaking Official Secrets Act for reporting on Rohingya crisis.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo walked free from a prison on the outskirts of Yangon on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind bars, Reuters reports citing witnesses.

Prison chief has reportedly confirmed that the two journalists have been freed, according to AP.

Earlier the president's office said in a statement that Myanmar would release 6,520 prisoners in an amnesty on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

President Win Myint pardoned thousands of prisoners in two mass amnesties last month.

It is customary in Myanmar for authorities to free prisoners around the time of the traditional New Year, which began on 17 April, Reuters report says.

The two reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail.

Before their arrest in December 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in western Myanmar's Rakhine State during an army crackdown that began in August 2017, Reuters report says. </s> A court in Myanmar on Monday charged two jailed Reuters journalists with obtaining secret state documents, moving the landmark press freedom case into its trial stage after six months of preliminary hearings.

Yangon district judge Ye Lwin charged reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, with breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Both journalists pleaded "not guilty" to the charges, telling the judge they had "followed journalistic ethics".

Speaking to reporters after the ruling, Wa Lone said he and Kyaw Soe Oo had committed no crime and would testify to their innocence in court.

"Although we are charged, we are not guilty," he said, in handcuffs, as officials ushered him into a police truck. "We will not retreat, give up or be shaken by this."

Chief prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung left the courthouse before reporters were able to ask him questions. </s> Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in Yangon in December 2017. They were found guilty in September of breaching the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, left, discussed the case of two imprisoned Reuters reporters with Vice President Mike Pence, right, in Singapore on Wednesday.

Pence met Suu Kyi on the sidelines of an Asia summit in Singapore.

“He raised the case of two Reuters journalists in particular and raised the request that a pardon could be made,” a senior White House official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “They had a very candid exchange of views on that.”

The White House official said Pence urged Suu Kyi directly to pardon the Reuters journalists “multiple times.”

The official declined to comment on Suu Kyi’s response in the closed-door meeting.

Two @Reuters journalists have been imprisoned in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. See our full coverage: https://t.co/nfSZ28f5yF pic.twitter.com/OvMlSkDCqO — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) November 14, 2018

Lawyers for the two Reuters reporters have lodged an appeal against their conviction.

At the time of their arrest in December, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim villagers during an army crackdown in Rakhine state. </s> related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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A Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and sentenced them to seven years in prison, in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

YANGON: A Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and sentenced them to seven years in prison, in a landmark case seen as a test of progress towards democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

Yangon northern district judge Ye Lwin said Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents.

"The defendants ... have breached Official Secrets Act section 3.1.c, and are sentenced to seven years. The time already served by the defendants from Dec. 12 will be taken into consideration," the judge said.

Press freedom advocates, the United Nations, the European Union and countries including the United States, Canada and Australia had called for the Reuters journalists' acquittal.

"Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere," Reuters editor in chief Stephen J Adler said in a statement.

"We will not wait while Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo suffer this injustice and will evaluate how to proceed in the coming days, including whether to seek relief in an international forum."

The reporters had told the court two police officials handed them papers at a north Yangon restaurant moments before other officers arrested them.

One police witness testified the restaurant meeting was a set-up to entrap the journalists to block or punish them for their reporting of a mass killing of Rohingya Muslims.

"I have no fear," Wa Lone said after the verdict.

"I have not done anything wrong ... I believe in justice, democracy and freedom."

The verdict means Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo - who both have young daughters and have not seen their families outside of prison visits and court hearings for nearly nine months - remain behind bars.

Kyaw Soe Oo has a three-year-old daughter and Wa Lone's wife, Pan Ei Mon, gave birth to their first child last month.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay has mostly declined to comment throughout the proceedings, saying Myanmar's courts were independent and the case would be conducted according to the law.

The verdict had been postponed for a week because Judge Ye Lwin was sick. It comes amid mounting pressure on the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown sparked by attacks by insurgents from the Rohingya Muslim minority on the security forces in August 2017.

More than 700,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims fled across western Myanmar's border with Bangladesh, according to U.N. agencies.

Dozens of reporters from domestic and international media organizations and diplomats were at the court for the verdict.

U.S. ambassador Scot Marciel said he was sad for the two reporters and also for Myanmar.

"It's deeply troubling for everybody who has struggled so hard here for media freedom. I think one has to ask will this process increase or decrease the confidence the people of Myanmar have in their justice system," Marciel told reporters.

"We are disappointed by today's court decision," the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, Knut Ostby, said in a statement. "The United Nations has consistently called for the release of the Reuters journalists and urged the authorities to respect their right to pursue freedom of expression and information."

British ambassador Dan Chugg, speaking on behalf of his government and EU members, said he was "extremely disappointed" by the verdict in a case that had "passed a long shadow" over freedom of expression and the rule of law.

"This has dealt a hammer blow for the rule of law," Chugg said.

The Reuters reporters were arrested on Dec. 12 while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men and boys and other abuses involving soldiers and police in Inn Din, a village in Rakhine State.

Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities made by refugees against its security forces, saying it conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation against Muslim militants.

But the military acknowledged the killing of the 10 Rohingya men and boys at Inn Din after arresting the Reuters reporters.

A U.N mandated fact-finding mission said last week Myanmar's military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with "genocidal intent" and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings.

The International Criminal Court is considering whether it has jurisdiction over events in Rakhine, while the United States, the European Union and Canada have sanctioned Myanmar military and police officers over the crackdown. </s> YANGON (Reuters) - A court in Myanmar on Monday charged two jailed Reuters journalists with obtaining secret state documents, moving the landmark press freedom case into its trial stage after six months of preliminary hearings.

Yangon district judge Ye Lwin charged reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, with breaching the colonial-era Official Secret Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The reporters pleaded not guilty. </s> YANGON (Reuters) - The judge in the trial of two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar on accusations of obtaining secret state documents said on Monday he will deliver his verdict on August 27, in a case that is seen as a test of press freedom in the fledgling democracy.

The judge set the date after closing arguments had been delivered.

The court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January to decide whether, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, are guilty of breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. </s> Reuters / Ann Wang | Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo gesture as they walk free outside Insein prison after receiving a presidential pardon in Yangon, Myanmar, on May 7, 2019.

Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free from a prison on the outskirts of Yangon on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind bars, witnesses said.

The two reporters, Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a case that raised questions about Myanmar's progress toward democracy and sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates.

President Win Myint has pardoned thousands of other prisoners in mass amnesties since last month.

It is customary in Myanmar for authorities to free prisoners across the country around the time of the traditional New Year, which began on April 17.

Reuters has said the two men did not commit any crime and had called for their release.

Swamped by media and well wishers as they walked through the gates of Insein Prison, on the outskirts of the commercial capital of Yangon, a grinning Wa Lone gave a thumbs up and said he was grateful for the international efforts to secure their freedom.

"I'm really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues. I can't wait to go to my newsroom."

Before their arrest in December 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in western Myanmar's Rakhine State during an army crackdown that began in August 2017.

The operation sent more than 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, according to U.N. estimates.

The report the two men authored, featuring testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of the victims, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in May, adding to a number of accolades received by the pair for their journalism.

Calls to a spokesman for the Myanmar government were not immediately answered.

Myanmar's Supreme Court had rejected the journalists' final appeal in April.

They had petitioned the country's top court, citing evidence of a police set-up and lack of proof of a crime, after the Yangon High Court dismissed an earlier appeal in January.

The reporters' wives wrote a letter to the government in April pleading for a pardon, not, they said, because their husbands had done anything wrong, but because it would allow them to be released from prison and reunited with their families.

The Reuters journalists were released at the prison to Lord Ara Darzi, a British surgeon and health care expert who has served as a member of an advisory group to Myanmar’s government, and a Reuters representative.

Darzi waited for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo at the gates of Insein prison on a street where a group of dozens of reporters and photographers expecting a release of prisoners were also waiting.

In a statement to Reuters, Darzi, 59, said the release of the two journalists came after “months of dialogue” with the government of Myanmar.

"I am delighted that the Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been granted a pardon, released from custody, and are with their loved ones once more. I know that it will come as a huge relief to their families, friends and colleagues,” Darzi said in the statement.

“This outcome shows that dialogue works, even in the most difficult of circumstances.”

Darzi said discussions about the pardon for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had involved the Myanmar government, Reuters, the United Nations and representatives of other governments but did not provide more detail on those closed-door talks.

Reuters had no immediate comment.

Darzi has been a member of an advisory commission that was formed to see through the advice from a panel headed by former UN chief Kofi Anan on solving the long-running conflict in Myanmar’s western region in the state of Rakhine.

Rakhine, on the Bay of Bengal, was the home to most Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown on the region in 2017.

Senior Myanmar government officials, diplomats and some international representatives are meeting in Yangon to discuss Rakhine this week.

“The power of dialogue must be turned towards securing a lasting peace in Rakhine State and the return of the hundreds of thousands of refugees, whose desperate plight continues. This is essential if Myanmar is to build on today’s progress so that all its citizens can live together in dignity in the hope of a better tomorrow,” Darzi said in the statement.
Myanmar President Win Myint pardons two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who had been imprisoned at Insein Prison for more than 500 days after being charged with possession of classified documents under the Official Secrets Act. The pair were arrested in December 2017 as they were investigating the Inn Din massacre.