Subscribe to our channel! rupt.ly/subscribe UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that while it was "good news" that imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released from prison in Myanmar, "they should never have been arrested and convicted in the first place." Shamdasani was speaking in Geneva on Tuesday.
"This case is one of many where restrictive legislation has been used to limit freedom of the press and to silence dissent in the country" she added.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were detained in December 2017, were sentenced to seven years in prison in September 2018 for breaching Myanmar's colonial-era Official Secrets Act while reporting on the massacre of Rohingya villagers in the country.
The two journalists, who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in April 2019, were released through a presidential amnesty after spending over 500 days in prison.
In 2017 Rohingya militants carried out a series of attacks against Myanmar's security forces, leaving 12 police officers dead. It triggered a crackdown by the Myanmar military, with widespread reports of indiscriminate killings, arson, looting and rape.
According the UN, more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar as a result of the conflict.
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