2 imprisoned Reuters reporters released in Myanmar

The Associated Press

6 years ago

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2018, combination file photo, Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo, left, an ... — FILE – In this Sept. 3, 2018, combination file photo, Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo, left, and Wa Lone, are handcuffed as they are escorted by police out of a court in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw, File)

YANGON, Myanmar — The chief of Yangon’s Insein Prison says two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for breaking the country’s Officials Secrets Act have been released.

Zaw Zaw said Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were freed Tuesday morning, after President Win Myint issued a blanket pardon for 6,520 prisoners. Witnesses saw the two reporters leave the prison.

Myanmar’s Supreme Court on April 23 rejected the final appeal of the two against their seven-year prison terms.

Their convictions were related to reporting on security forces’ abuses of the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.