Image copyright EPA
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has defended the jailing of two Reuters journalists, despite international condemnation.
She said Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had broken the law and their conviction had “nothing to do with freedom of expression at all”.
The two were sentenced for possession of police documents while investigating the killing of Rohingya Muslims.
Ms Suu Kyi also said the army crackdown against the Rohingya could in hindsight have been handled differently.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate – who is not Myanmar’s elected president but is almost universally viewed as such – had been under intense pressure to comment on both the Rohingya crisis and more recently the journalists.
Image copyright EPA Image caption The verdict against Wa Lone (L) and Kyaw Soe Oo (R) has been widely condemned
The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination in Myanmar, which considers them to be illegal and problematic migrants from Bangladesh.
The latest crisis erupted when a brutal military crackdown was launched in response to a Rohingya militant group attacking several police posts.
Since last year, at least 700,000 Rohingya have fled violence Myanmar, also known as Burma.
In August, a UN report said top military figures in Myanmar must be investigated for genocide in Rakhine state and crimes against humanity in other areas.
The report describes the army’s response – including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement – as “grossly disproportionate to actual security threats”.
