Wives of jailed Myanmar reporters shocked by verdicts

Yangon: The wives of two Myanmar reporters for the Reuters news agency said they were shocked by a sentence of seven years’ imprisonment against them on charges of possessing state secrets.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair.
They had reported about the army’s brutal counterinsurgency campaign that drove 700,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority to flee to Bangladesh. The subject is sensitive in Myanmar because of worldwide condemnation of the military’s human rights abuses, which it denies.
Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, said at a news conference on Tuesday that she never expected such a harsh punishment “because everyone knows that they didn’t do anything wrong.”
The two men testified that they had been framed by the police.
Pan Ei Mon gave birth to the couple’s first child in Yangon on Aug. 10, but her husband has not seen their daughter.
Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife, Chit Su, also said she had expected her husband would be coming home. They have a 3-year-old daughter.
She said she still hopes for mercy from the state. At the same time, she remains proud that her husband did his duty as a journalist.
The lawyers for the journalists told the news conference that they would do whatever they could to get their clients freed.
They can file an appeal or ask for a pardon, or hope the reporters could be freed under a general amnesty for prisoners.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged Myanmar authorities to review their decision, noting with concern the conviction and sentencing of the two. (AP)