Reuters: Journalists held for probing Rohingya massacre

Two Reuters news company journalists held for 2 months by Myanmar authorities beget been arrested over their investigation of a massacre of 10 Rohingya men, the news company said in a file that detailed the killings.

It is the principle time Reuters has publicly confirmed what Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, beget been engaged on when they beget been arrested on December 12 on the outskirts of Yangon.

The pair are now facing up to 14 years in penal advanced on charges of possessing labeled paperwork in violation of the colonial-generation Official Secrets Act.

Their pickle has sparked world fright over withering press freedoms in Myanmar and govt efforts to curb reporting in northern Rakhine mumble – a disaster-hit distress where troops are accused of waging an ethnic detoxing campaign in opposition to Muslim-majority Rohingya.

Almost seven-hundred,000 Rohingya beget fled the effect since ideal August, carrying tales of atrocities at the fingers of troops and vigilante groups within the Buddhist-majority nation.

Myanmar authorities stutter the allegations but beget virtually lower off northern Rakhine, barring self reliant media from having access to the war-hit areas.

On Thursday Reuters published a file describing how Myanmar troops and Buddhist villagers executed 10 Rohingya men in Rakhine’s Inn Dinn village on September 2, 2017 sooner than dumping their bodies correct into a mass grave.

« The Reuters investigation of the Inn Din massacre used to be what precipitated Myanmar police authorities to arrest two of the news company’s newshounds, » the file said.

The chronicle used to be essentially based mostly on testimony from Buddhist villagers, security officers and members of the family of the slain men.

It integrated graphic photos of the victims, fingers creep kneeling on the ground sooner than the killing – and of their bodies in a pit after they beget been shot.

[ATTENTION – VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH BELOW]

Ten Rohingya Muslim men with their fingers creep kneel as contributors of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village [Reuters]

The bodies of 10 Rohingya Muslim men lie in a shallow grave in Inn Din village, Myanmar, in this undated image got by Reuters on November 22 [Reuters]

Their ages ranged from 17 to forty five. Among them beget been college students, fishermen, farmers and shop owners. They beget been all fragment of the identical Rohingya community in Inn Din.

« When they beget been taking them away, they said ‘assemble no longer anxiety. We can send your sons inspire soon. We are taking them for a meeting’, » the father of one victims, Abdu Shakur, said.

Abdu Shakur, whose son Rashid Ahmed used to be among 10 Rohingya men killed by Myanmar security forces and Buddhist villagers on September 2, 2017, holds a family image at Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, January 19 [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

A month after the journalists’ arrests, Myanmar’s military issued a rare statement admitting that security forces took fragment in extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya « terrorists » in Inn Din village.

The Reuters file said witnesses denied there had been any main assault from Rohingya rebels sooner than the alleged massacre.

A Myanmar govt spokesman can also no longer be straight away reached for comment.

But Myanmar vehemently denies systematic abuses by its security officers, no matter a mounting quantity of proof pointing to atrocities.

Judges beget denied bail to the two newshounds all through a pre-trial listening to duration, no matter calls for his or her unencumber from human rights groups and diplomats across the globe.

Detained Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is viewed all through a ruin at the court listening to in Yangon, Myanmar February 1 [Jorge Silva/Reuters]

Arrested Reuters journalist Wa Lone is being escorted by police after a court listening to in Yangon, Myanmar February 1, [Jorge Silva/Reuters]

The following listening to is scheduled for February 14.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies