Myanmar charges Reuters reporters with illegally obtaining state secrets
Yangon, July 9 : A Myanmar court on Monday charged two Reuters reporters with breaching a colonial-era law and illegally obtaining state secrets, according to the news agency.
The court approved the plea of the prosecutors to press charges against journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who pleaded not guilty, reports Efe news.
Speaking outside the court in Yangon to members of the media, Wa Lone said: "We just (do) investigative reporting about violation of human rights and corruption in Rakhine state, according to our journalism ethic. We will continue this and face the court. We write from the all different angles. If the police perpetrated injustice, we have to investigated and write."
Dozens of people were outside the court including foreign embassy representatives and the wives of the two journalists.
The court had dismissed the reporters' pleas and the pair could be sentenced to up to 14 years in jail under the Official Secrets Act.
The decision comes after a witness testified during a preliminary hearing that the two journalists were trapped by security forces, who promised the journalists access to confidential documents about a controversial army offensive in the Rakhine state.
The two reporters were working on an investigative article on the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in Rakhine.
The killings were part of a military operation Myanmar launched last year against the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar, following a series of attacks by Rohingya rebels on government posts in the region.
The offensive has led to the exodus of 700,000 Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they have been living in overcrowded camps.
According to Doctors Without Borders, at least 6,700 Rohingyas were killed during the offensive.
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Cong’s disinformation campaign failed, public aware of truth: Union minister Rijiju
Mumbai (PTI): Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said that the Congress’ “disinformation campaign” has failed, referring to the opposition party’s claim during the Lok Sabha polls that the BJP would change the Constitution if it won the 2024 general elections.
People are now aware of the truth, said the BJP leader in a press conference here ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
He targeted Rahul Gandhi over the latter’s visit to Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism 68 years ago, on Wednesday and attacked the Congress over historical political events and for “treating” Muslims as a vote bank.
Questioning Rahul Gandhi’s respect for the Constitution, he said, “The Congress should first answer why it insulted the Constitution and late Dr Ambedkar. The Congress had even ensured Dr Ambedkar’s defeat.”
He said the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru initially did not want Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution, in his cabinet, although the Dalit icon was eventually inducted and made the law minister.
Rijiju also mentioned Ambedkar’s resignation, describing it as an insult to him. This marked the beginning of significant changes in the constitutional framework, said the former law minister, citing the 42nd Amendment, passed during Emergency (1975-77).
“The spirit of the Constitution was attacked in 1975, and democracy was murdered,” Rijiju said, referring to the Emergency imposed by then PM Indira Gandhi.
Rijiju also described Congress leaders holding copies of the Constitution as a “fake drama”, claiming the book had blank pages. “Some people told me that the books Congress party distributed to people (as copies of Constitution) had a red cover but with blank pages,” he said.
The BJP leader praised the pace of infrastructure development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the construction of highways and expressways.
The Maharashtra government, when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM, built the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway. He contrasted this with what he described as the failure of Congress-led governments in delivering on their promises in Telangana, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.
“Within one month, people were dissatisfied with the guarantees made in these states,” he claimed.
Rijiju also accused the Congress of exploiting Muslims as a vote bank.
“Congress fooled Muslims. They are still poor, and no major work was done for them. This affected both the Muslim community and the country as a whole,” Rijiju claimed.
