Reuters journalists in Myanmar remanded for another 14 days: Lawyer

Reuters journalists Wa Lone (L) and Kyaw Soe Oo, who are based in Myanmar, pose for a picture at the Reuters office in Yangon, Myanmar on December 11, 2017. (Source: REUTERS/File Photo)

A court in Myanmar agreed on Wednesday to remand two Reuters journalists in custody for a second 14-day period as authorities continued a probe into allegations that they breached the nation’s Official Secrets Act, according to the lawyer for the reporters.

The two reporters Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, completed two weeks in detention on Tuesday. They were brought to a court in Yangon on Wednesday for the brief proceedings and allowed to meet their families, colleagues and lawyer for the first time since being arrested on Dec 12.

The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in the western state of Rakhine, where an estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a fierce military crackdown on militants.

The Official Secrets Act carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.