Reuters journalists freed from Myanmar prison

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo walked free from prison in Myanmar on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind bars on convictions for breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

The White House said on Tuesday it welcomed the release of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were jailed in Myanmar for more than a year.

Britain welcomed Myanmar's release of two Reuters journalists on Tuesday after more than 500 days in jail, a step that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said could open a new chapter in relations.

Convicted of breaking Myanmar's Official Secrets Act, Reuters journalists Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had spent more than 500 days in jail when they were freed on Tuesday.

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were freed on Tuesday months after being sentenced to seven years in jail on convictions under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

Myanmar will release 6,520 prisoners in an amnesty on Tuesday, the president's office said in a statement.

Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were again included on a list of the 10 most urgent cases of journalists whose global press freedoms are being abused.  The list, which is updated monthly, was put together by the One Free Press Coalition, a new group formed by news organizations to spotlight journalists under attack.

The United States criticized Myanmar on Wednesday after the Asian country's high court upheld the sentencing of two Reuters journalists, expressing deep concern about freedom of expression and urging that the two be reunited with their families.

Myanmar's top court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act, in a landmark case that has raised questions about the country's transition to democracy.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes the prosecution of two Reuters reporters in Myanmar was "unacceptable" and will continue seeking their release, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

(In April 21 story, this corrected version adds dropped word "democracy" in paragraph eight.)

Myanmar's Supreme Court heard the appeal on Tuesday of two Reuters journalists imprisoned for breaking a colonial-era official secrets law, in a case that has raised questions about Myanmar's progress towards democracy.

Lawyers for two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar for breaking a colonial-era official secrets law appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday against their conviction, as a rights group said the government wielded repressive laws against peaceful critics.

A Myanmar policeman who told a court last year how officers planted secret documents on two Reuters reporters in order to "entrap" them was released from prison on Friday, after being sentenced to a year in jail for violating police discipline.

Myanmar's government under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has used repressive laws to prosecute peaceful critics, dashing hopes that its first democratic leader in decades would safeguard free speech, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.

A Myanmar court on Friday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act, saying the defense had not provided sufficient evidence to show they were innocent.

Britain on Friday called on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to look at whether due process was followed in the case of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail in Myanmar.

A Myanmar court heard arguments on Monday in the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Friday that two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar on charges of breaking the country's Official Secrets Act were innocent and that Britain had serious concerns about due process in the case.