INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
UN denounces Myanmar's crackdown as ‘political campaign’ against independent journalism
Geneva — Myanmar, facing international outrage over the jailing of Reuters journalists for their reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, is conducting a "political campaign" against independent journalism, the UN said on Tuesday. A fresh report from the UN rights office decried "the instrumentalisation of the law and of the courts by the government and military in what constitutes a political campaign against independent journalism". It slammed the "failure of the judiciary to uphold the fair trial rights of those targeted". The rights office pointed to the "particularly outrageous" and high-profile example of the conviction of Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, also known as Thet Oo Maung. Last week, a judge jailed the two journalists — both Myanmar nationals — for seven years under a draconian state secrets act over their reporting of the Rohingya crisis. About 700,000 of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority were driven into neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar ...
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