The two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who were jailed in Myanmar for reporting on the Rohingya crisis have been released after 500 days.
Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, were convicted under the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in jail last September.
Having spent more than 500 days in prison on the outskirts of Yangon, the two Reuters journalists were released after a presidential amnesty.
The journalists were released along with thousands of other prisoners as part of mass amnesties that take place annually around new year in Myanmar.
The jailing of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists had raised questions about Myanmar’s democracy and was seen as a major assault on press freedom. The country’s de facto leader Aung San Su Kyi, a former political prisoner herself, was heavily criticised for defending the jailing of the journalists.
As he left the prison, Wa Lone vowed to continue his reporting and said he was excited to return to work at Reuters.
“I’m really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues. I can’t wait to go to my newsroom,” he told reporters.
To read the original story, click here.
