By Catherine Lai
Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) has
submitted a petition calling on Myanmar to release two detained Reuters
journalists.
The petition was signed by over 42,000 people and
represents ten foreign press clubs across Asia.
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested
by Myanmar police in December on suspicion of violating the rarely used
colonial-era Official Secrets Act. They had been investigating the killing of
10 Rohingya Muslim men by Rakhine Buddhists and Myanmar troops.
The UN has accused the military of the ethnic cleansing
of the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state, though the armed forces says it is
fighting Rohingya militants.
The detention of the two journalists is widely believed
to be politically motivated, and has been criticised as an attack on press
freedom by NGOs and journalists’ organisations.
A group of representatives from Hong Kong’s FCC walked to
the Myanmar consulate on Wednesday – the 100th day since the journalists were
detained – to submit the petition.
FCC President Florence de Changy told HKFP that the
consulate closed in order to prevent them from handing in the petition: “Police
escorted us, and the building management promised they would hand in the three
volumes of signatures to the consulate when they open again.”
De Changy added: “Whilst we observe increasing
infringements on press freedom throughout the region, it is essential that the
FCC Hong Kong stands up and joins forces with fellow press clubs and the entire
media community to defend journalists arrested or harassed by authorities for
no other reasons than trying to do their job properly. “
Reuters has called for the two reporters’ prompt release
and says they are innocent of any wrongdoing.
“They have been detained in Myanmar since December 12
simply for doing their jobs as journalists,” Reuters President and
Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are exemplary individuals and
outstanding reporters who are dedicated to their families and their craft. They
should be in the newsroom, not in prison. We call on the authorities in Myanmar
to release them as soon as possible and allow them to return to their families
and their jobs.”
The Myanmar government has said that the journalists were
arrested for possessing secret government documents related to Rakhine state
and the security forces, and that they illegally acquired the information with
the intention of sharing it with foreign media.