Wa Lone Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, pictured as they are freed from prison in Yangon, Myanmar, on May 7 after receiving a presidential pardon. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo freed by pardon in Myanmar

May 7, 2019 12:24 AM EDT

Bangkok, May 7, 2019– Reuters’ journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released today from a Yangon prison in Myanmar as part of a presidential pardon, after spending more than 500 days behind bars, Reuters reported. The journalists were released in a mass amnesty of prisoners granted today by President Win Myint, according to…

Police escort Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone from a court hearing in Yangon in August 2018. The Myanmar Supreme Court has upheld their seven-year conviction. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Myanmar court rejects appeal by Reuters’ Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo

April 22, 2019 11:31 PM EDT

New York, April 22, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed deep disappointment today after the Myanmar Supreme Court upheld Reuters’ journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s convictions. Reuters reported that the Supreme Court justice said the appeal was rejected and did not elaborate further.

Detained Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone are escorted by police as they leave after a court hearing in Yangon, Myanmar, on August 20, 2018. The journalists will have their appeal heard at the Myanmar Supreme Court on March 26. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

Myanmar Supreme Court to hear appeal of jailed Reuters reporters

March 24, 2019 5:27 PM EDT

Bangkok, March 25, 2019 — The Supreme Court of Myanmar will hear an appeal by the lawyers of jailed Reuters news agency reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone on March 26, according to a statement from Reuters seen by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Pan Ei Mon, left, and Chit Su Win, wives of jailed Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, talk to media after their appeal was rejected by a court in Yangon, Myanmar, on January 11, 2019. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Myanmar court rejects appeal of jailed Reuters’ reporters

January 11, 2019 7:39 AM EST

Bangkok, January 11, 2019–A Myanmar court upheld today the conviction of Reuters news agency reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both of whom are serving seven year sentences for violating the Official Secrets Act, Reuters reported.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon talks about global press freedom violations during a Press Behind Bars panel at the U.N. (Reuters)

CPJ’s Joel Simon speaks at Press Behind Bars panel

September 28, 2018 2:13 PM EDT

Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon addressed a panel event at the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2018. The event highlighted global press freedom violations and the jailing of journalists in countries around the world, with a specific focus on cases in Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh,…

Live Stream – Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy

September 27, 2018 5:09 PM EDT

Event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 28, 2018. Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, Reuters President and CPJ board member Stephen J. Adler, and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents the imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, speak on a panel at the 73rd…

People march to show solidarity for jailed Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Yangon, Myanmar, on September 1, 2018, two days before a local court sentenced them to 7 years in prison on charges of breaching the country's Official Secrets Act. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

CPJ condemns conviction in Myanmar of Reuters’s Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo

September 3, 2018 12:17 AM EDT

Bangkok, September 3, 2018–A Myanmar court today sentenced two Reuters news agency reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, to seven years each in prison for violating the Official Secrets Act, Reuters reported.

Detained Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is escorted by police while leaving Insein court in Yangon, Myanmar on July 9, 2018. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Myanmar court charges Reuters reporters under official secrets act

July 9, 2018 7:27 AM EDT

Bangkok, July 9, 2018 – A Myanmar court charged today two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, under the Official Secrets Act, the news agency reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned the criminal charges and called on authorities to drop the landmark case, which has major press freedom implications.

Messages of support are left on a poster depicting detained Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, at a press freedom event in Yangon, Myanmar, on May 1. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

People need to know why our journalists were arrested in Myanmar, Reuters tells CPJ

May 10, 2018 12:14 PM EDT

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have spent nearly five months in detention in Myanmar, on charges of violating a colonial-era Official Secrets Act. At the time of their arrest in Yangon on December 12, the reporters were investigating a mass killing of Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar troops that took…

Detained Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone are transported in a police vehicle after a court hearing in Yangon, Myanmar on April 20, 2018 . (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Prosecution witness: Myanmar police planned ‘trap’ for Reuters reporter

April 20, 2018 11:12 AM EDT

New York, April 20, 2018–A prosecution witness in the case against two imprisoned Reuters journalists in Myanmar today testified that a police chief ordered officers to trap one of the reporters by handing him “secret documents” during a meeting, according to Reuters and other news reports.