The Supreme Court of Myanmar on April 23, 2019, has dismissed the appeals of two journalists sentenced to seven years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act, the Reuters reported.
The journalists working with Reuters, Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, were awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting 'for their work in exposing the military units and Buddhist villagers responsible for the systematic expulsion and murder of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.'
Both the journalists have already spent more than 16 months in detention since they were arrested in December 2017 while working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys.
According to Reuters, the dismissal of appeal was unreasoned. The Supreme Court Justice Soe Naing only said, "They were sentenced for seven years and this decision stands, and the appeal is rejected."
The journalists were found guilty last September by a district court judge in Myanmar under the Official Secrets Act for illegally possessing official documents. They were sentenced to seven years in prison. In January this year, the Yangon High Court rejected their first appeal.
As per reports, the journalists insist that they were framed by the authorities and that police planted the documents. However, the top court upheld their conviction citing lack of proof of a crime and evidence that the pair were set-up by police.
