Press behind bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy - with Amal Clooney and others

Press behind bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy The event called “Press behind bars – Undermining Justice and Democracy” with special highlight on imprisonment of journalists globally, was held Friday (28 Sep) on the sidelines of the 73rd General Assembly. Opening the event, Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said “the jailing of journalists has reached unprecedented levels. At the end of last year, there were 262 journalists jailed around the world, the highest number ever recorded by the CPJ.” Out of 262 jailed journalists globally at the end of 2017, 73 were in prisons in Turkey, 41 in China and 20 in Egypt. Simon also said ‘the jailing of journalists is a brutal form of censorship that is having a profound impact on the flow of information around the world. The time has come to speak up and to name names.” A large part of event was dedicated to Reuters’ journalists from Myanmar, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who were sentenced for breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents, according to Yangon northern district judge Ye Lwin. At the time of their arrest in December 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporting on the government’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslim insurgents in Rakhine state of Myanmar. Their work was instrumental in uncovering the details of a massacre of ten Rohingya men, as published by the Reuters news agency shortly after their arrest. Speaking at the event, Editor-in-Chief, Reuters Stephen Adler said the arrest of Reuters’ journalists “was clearly aimed at unmasking Reuters’ sources and preventing us from publishing the account of the massacre.” Adler said “our reporters were handcuffed, hooded, continuously interrogated, threatened and denied sleep. Two weeks passed before their families, lawyers or we at Reuters had any idea where they were.” A human rights lawyer Amal Clooney who represents Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, said her clients were “paraded into a courtroom for a sham trial” and she labeled their conviction and the seven-year sentence “a travesty of justice.” Giving detailed explanation of why she thinks the legal process was flawed, Clooney said "the prosecutor’s story, accepted wholesale by the court, is not only fabricated, but totally implausible.” The faith of imprisoned journalists is now in the hands of the government, Clooney said and called on the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to act and free them. She said “Aung San Suu Kyi knows better than anyone what is it like to be a political prisoner in Myanmar. She has slept in a cell in the prison where Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo now sleep” and added “history will judge her on her response.” Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Myanmar’s Prime Minister was herself prosecuted by the Myanmar military dictatorship in 1989. Lately, she has drawn repeated criticism from many countries and organizations, including the UN Human Rights Office, over her inaction on the Myanmar’s security forces' prosecution of the Rohingya people. ------------------- The UNTV Channel is available 24 hours a day with selected live programming of United Nations meetings and events as well as with pre-recorded video features and documentaries on various global issues. Watch more Live and on-demand events in six languages directly from UN Web TV at: http://webtv.un.org مشاهدة المزيد من الأحداث الحية وعند الطلب في اللغة العربية مباشر من تلفزيون الأمم المتحدة على شبكة الإنترنت : http://webtv.un.org 欲览更多联合国会议与活动的中文直播与回放内容，请访问联合国网络电视主页：http://webtv.un.org Regardez plus d'événements en direct et à la demande en Français directement de UN Web TV sur: http://webtv.un.org  Acceda a más eventos en directo y videos en español directamente desde ONU Web TV: http://webtv.un.org Смотрите больше прямых трансляций и видеозаписей на русском языке на Веб-телевидении ООН: http://webtv.un.org