Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia
standards, which require that public authorities adequately demonstrate the
legitimacy of any restriction of information, that the process of classification
of information be made public, and that information be restricted only “as
long as necessary” to protect a legitimate security interest.346
Case of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo
In December 2017, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo
were arrested in northern Yangon under section 3 of the ISA, following
investigative work and reporting the journalists had engaged in to uncover
human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military’s security
forces in Rakhine state.347 Their report documenting the military’s killing
of ten Rohingya men in Inn Dinn village was published online on Reuters
news website on 8 February 2018.348
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were detained incommunicado for nearly two
weeks before charges were brought against them.349
In April 2018, police officer Capt. Moe Yan Naing testified during pre-trial
hearings that he had been instructed to ‘frame’ the journalists by planting
on them documents related to security operations in Rakhine state.350
In July 2018, Yangon Northern District Court made a decision to extend
the journalists’ detention term, even as ICJ Legal Advisers monitoring
the case noted that through six months of hearings, the prosecution had
failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate a conviction.351
In September 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were convicted and
sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.352
346 Tshwane Principles, Principles 4, 11, 16.
347 The Irrawaddy, ‘Reuters Reports Arrested in Yangon Under Official Secrets Act’, 13 December
2017, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/breaking-reuters-reporters-arrested-yangonofficial-secrets-act.html; See ICJ, ‘Reuters journalists detained in Myanmar: respect their rights,
end their incommunicado detention’, 18 December 2017, Available at: https://www.icj.org/reutersjournalists-detained-in-myanmar-respect-their-rights-end-their-incommunicado-detention/
348 Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo, Simon Lewis, Antoni Slodkowski, ‘Reuters Special Report: Massacre in
Myanmar’, Filed 8 February 2018, Available at: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/specialreport/myanmar-rakhine-events/
349 ICJ, ‘Myanmar: Reuters convictions a massive blow to the rule of law’, 3 September 2018,
Available at: https://www.icj.org/myanmar-reuters-convictions-a-massive-blow-to-the-rule-of-law/
350 Capt. Moe Yan Naing thereafter was sentenced to one year in prison under the Police Disciplinary
Act and his family evicted from the police dormitory in which they had been living. See Eli Meixler,
‘Myanmar Police Officer Who Said That Detained Reuters Reporters Were Set Up Has Been Jailed’,
TIME, 30 April 2018, Available at: https://time.com/5259232/myanmar-jail-police-whistleblowerreuters-reporters/
351 ICJ, ‘Myanmar: officials must drop charges against Reuters journalists’, 9 July 2018, Available at:
https://www.icj.org/myanmar-officials-must-drop-charges-against-reuters-journalists/
352 Kyaw Phyo Tha, ‘Calls Mount for Official Secrets Act to Be Amended in Wake of Reuters Case’,
95