Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy released the following statement regarding the decision by a court in Burma to convict two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, to seven year jail terms. The two journalists had been imprisoned since December 12, 2017, for investigating the killings of Rohingya villagers by Burmese security forces. 

“The decision to jail these journalists for simply doing their jobs is unacceptable and represents another significant step back for Burma’s democratic transition and the rule of law, which have already been badly damaged by the atrocities against the Rohingya that these journalists exposed to the world,” said Senators Gardner and Markey. “The Burmese government should immediately release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, or face consequences from the international community. Unless these journalists are immediately freed, the United States Treasury Department should consider imposing sanctions on every high ranking Burmese official that authorized or participated in the decision to unjustly jail these reporters.”

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