<ul><li>Two <keyword id="6691470" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reuters-journalists">Reuters journalists</keyword>, <keyword id="7604465" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="wa-lone-and-kyaw-soe-oo">Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo</keyword>, were released by the Myanmar government on Tuesday after 500 days in detention. </li><li>They were convicted of breaking the country’s Official Secrets Act and were sentenced last September to seven years in jail for receiving documents from a police officer. </li><li>Two years ago, the country’s military is believed to have killed 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Dinn, forcing over 720,000 Rohingya people to flee to Bangladesh. </li></ul>Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were released by the Myanmar government on Tuesday after 500 days in detention. The two had been sentenced to seven years in prison for covering country’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims during a military operation in 2017, <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/myanmar-journalists/two-reuters-reporters-jailed-in-myanmar-freed-after-more-than-500-days-idINKCN1SD05C">reported </a>Reuters. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rakhine-events/">international reporting</a> ,were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act and were sentenced last September for allegedly receiving documents from a police officer. They had been arrested outside a restaurant in Yangon on 12 Dec 2017. Myanmar also released thousands of other prisoners including the two journalists on Tuesday as part of mass amnesties that take place annually around Myanmar's new year, which began on 17 April. Traditionally, the Myanmar authorities pardon many across the country during their new year. During their detention for more than a year, their reporting was recognised with several international awards besides the Pulitzer Prize. They were also named “Person of the Year” by Time Magazine. There was also massive diplomatic effort and pressure from human rights activists calling for their release. In April, the two, in fact, lost their last chance after the Supreme Court rejected their final appeal but they had hoped for a presidential pardon. Two years ago, the military killed 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Dinn, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/06/asia/reuters-journalists-myanmar-freed-intl/">forcing over 720,000 Rohingya people to escape the border</a> and live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1017802">United Nations</a> called the incident as one of the ‘<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/world/asia/myanmar-united-nations-rohingya-genocide.html">gravest crime</a>s under international law,’ according to media reports. “The UN in Myanmar considers the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo a step toward improving the freedom of the press and a sign of government’s commitment to Myanmar’s transition to democracy,” said United Nations in Myanmar.

After 500 days in Myanmar prison for speaking truth to power, the two Reuters journalists walk free

<ul><li>Myanmar military has reportedly released the soldiers who were involved in the killings of 10 Rohingya muslims in Inn Dinn. </li><li>The soldiers were released last November, less than a year into the 10-year term they had to serve. </li><li>The prison official had no information about the exact date of release. </li></ul>Seven Myanmar soldiers, who were sent to prison killing 10 Rohingya Muslims in the village of Inn Dinn during a 2017 military crackdown, were freed within a year, Reuters <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/fashion/weddings/19Sheth.html?mtrref=www.google.com&amp;gwh=A6809E84DFC8EA65DC5358E78500A841&amp;gwt=pay">reported </a>citing sources. At least two prison officials told Reuters that the soldiers have not been in prison for several months. The punishment of the soldiers was reduced by the military, according to the report. The soldiers were reportedly released last November, less than a year into the 10-year term they had to serve. They also served a shorter term than the two Reuters journalists who had exposed them. These soldiers were the only security personnel who were punished for carrying out 2017 operation in Rakhine. Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/after-500-days-in-myanmar-prison-for-speaking-truth-to-power-the-two-reuters-journalists-walk-free/articleshow/69211598.cms">were released</a> by the Myanmar government earlier this month after 500 days in detention. The two had been sentenced to seven years in prison for covering country’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims during a military operation in 2017. Two years ago, the military killed 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Dinn, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/06/asia/reuters-journalists-myanmar-freed-intl/">forcing over 720,000 Rohingya people to escape the border</a> and live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1017802">United Nations</a> called the incident as one of the gravest<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/world/asia/myanmar-united-nations-rohingya-genocide.html"> crime</a>s under international law,’ according to media reports. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/after-500-days-in-myanmar-prison-for-speaking-truth-to-power-the-two-reuters-journalists-walk-free/articleshow/69211598.cms">After 500 days in Myanmar prison for speaking truth to power, the two Reuters journalists walk free</a>

Myanmar grants early release to soldiers who killed 10 Rohingya Muslims: Reuters

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c0a6151c6117f12fd45524f-2000/amaljamal4x3.jpg" border="0" alt="4x3 Amal Clooney lJamal Khashoggi" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Twitter/Hatice Cengiz/Business Insider" data-mce-caption="A composite image of Amal Clooney at UN event about detained journalists in September 2018 and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October." />REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Twitter/Hatice Cengiz/Business InsiderA composite image of Amal Clooney at UN event about detained journalists in September 2018 and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Amal Clooney said that President Donald Trump's rhetoric about the media "gave the green light" for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.</li><li>Clooney, a human rights lawyer who has represented detained journalists, said Trump "has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the enemy of the people."</li><li>She linked this to the death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.</li><li>Trump has repeatedly referred to the press as the enemy of the people and has embraced chants against news outlets at his rallies.</li></ul>Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney said that President Donald Trump's campaign against the media "gave the green light" for the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.Clooney, who has represented journalists detained in countries like Egypt and Azerbaijan, linked Trump's rhetoric about the media to the killing of the Washington Post journalist.Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Leaked accounts of his murder say that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/khashoggi-last-words-im-suffocating-turkey-state-media-2018-11">the killing lasted seven minutes and he was suffocated</a>. Turkish investigators <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/khashoggi-body-acid-turkey-investigation-2018-11">reportedly believe that Khashoggi's remains may have been dissolved in acid</a>.Clooney attacked Trump while speaking at a UN Correspondents Association ceremony in New York on Wednesday, where she was given an award."The US president has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the enemy of the people," she said, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/amal-clooney-attacks-trump-over-press-murder-regimes-khashoggi-pdqcd8bj5">according The Times of London</a>."And of course two months ago a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, walked into a consulate in Istanbul and was brutally tortured to death."Trump has repeatedly referred to the press as the enemy of the people and has embraced chants against news outlets at his rallies.CNN president Jeff Zucker also <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/bomb-sent-to-clintons-obama-mail-explosive-device-10860806">criticised the White House in October</a> for "the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media" after more than a dozen bombs were sent to places including CNN's office in Manhattan.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-criticizes-trumps-calls-for-civility-over-the-thwarted-bombings-2018-10?r=UK&amp;IR=T">Obama says Trump's calls for civility have no weight because he's spent years 'vilifying people, questioning their patriotism,' and calling them 'enemies of the people'</a>Clooney's recent clients have i<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/ap-amal-clooney-pardon-reuters-reporters-jailed-in-myanmar-2018-9">ncluded Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo,</a> who were convicted and jailed for seven years in Myanmar for covering the killing of the Rohingya minority by government forces.Trump has also been criticized over Khashoggi's killing for refusing do condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman who many, including US senators and<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cia-mohammed-bin-salman-ordered-jamal-khashoggi-killed-report-says-2018-11"> the CIA</a>, believe orchestrated the killing. Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/senators-marco-rubio-lindsey-graham-confident-that-crown-prince-was-complicit-in-jamal-khashoggi-murder-2018-12">Senators are now confident that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was 'complicit' in Jamal Khashoggi's murder</a>Senators from both parties on Wednesday announced with a "high level of confidence" that Crown Prince Mohammed was "complicit" in the killing.Trump has<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-defends-saudi-crown-prince-in-khashoggi-death-disputes-cia-reported-conclusion-2018-11"> doubled down on his defense</a> of the Saudi crown prince and said the US-Saudi relationship is "paramount" in his decision-making. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-scaramucci-trump-press-economy-2018-11">Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/L1GsGzGe-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Amal Clooney says Trump's campaign against the media 'gave the green light' for Jamal Khashoggi's brutal murder

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59ca163425acc209048b5d9a-1538/ap16231359587319.jpg" border="0" alt="Aung San Suu Kyi" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein" data-mce-caption="Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi reviews an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016." />AP Photo/Mark SchiefelbeinMyanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi reviews an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The decision Burmese court to jail two Reuters journalist for reporting on 10 Rohingya deaths has led to uncertainty among foreign investors about Myanmar's commitment to democracy.</li><li>More than 800,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar due to facing religious persecution and ethnic violence from the Buddhist majority there.</li><li>A former aid to Aung San Suu Kyi said the country's bureaucracy had put too many regulations on economic development to lure American companies there. And that Suu Ky i's recent stance on both the Rohingya and the imprisoned journalists would "dry up" foreign investment.</li></ul>When Thura Ko went last week to meet some local partners in the Mandalay, he ordered a motorcycle-taxi through an app on his smartphone and paid for it with his credit card."We've gone from an 8% mobile penetration rate to 90% in six years," said Ko, a foreign investor who has advised US and international investors who traveled to Myanmar. Ko moved to Yangon from Hong Kong six years ago and sees the rise of smartphones as a way of measuring how far the southeast Asian country has come in his short time living there."People's lives have completely changed. We started off using mobile phones with the highest smartphone penetration in Asia - out of 100 headsets, 80 are all smartphones."When I talked to Ko in 2015, you could feel a sense of optimism on Yangon's poorly lit streets; Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy, had taken back the majority in parliament and effectively ended the military's decades-long dominance in government.Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent years under house arrest for her pro-democracy activism, was in Washington in September 2016, meeting with President Barack Obama. His administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/obama-lifts-sanctions-myanmar.html">would announce three months later, in December,</a> that the US would suspend some of its sanctions on Myanmar, in recognition of the country's recent political reforms.The Obama administration pointed to the formation of a democratically elected government, the release of many political prisoners and improved fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of peaceful assembly as some of the reasons the sanctions were lifted. It was also part of a broader effort to reengage with countries long neglected by the West.The Clinton administration in 1997 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/22/world/clinton-approves-new-us-sanctions-against-burmese.html">had banned new American investment in Myanmar</a>, citing human-rights abuses at the hands of its military government, including its decision to put Suu Kyi under house-arrest.Six years later,in 2003, the US added new sanctions after a US State Department report accused members of the Burmese government of rape, torture and murder. The 2003 sanctions included a ban on all imports from Myanmar and instructions that American banks should not do business there..While Suu Kyi received some praise for democratic reforms during her 2016 US trip, critics both inside and outside Myanmar, quickly pointed to her failure to condemn news the Burmese military had perpetrated acts of ethnic cleansing against the minority ethnic Rohingya in her speech to the United Nations.The Rohingya are still denied Burmese citizenship and are currently one of the largest stateless populations in the world. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya - by some estimates, as many as 800,000 - have fled Myanmar and are living as refugees in Bangladesh.Seeing Suu Kyi represent the people of Myanmar on the international stage inspired a lot of hope in young people like Thomas Kyaw Yan, a student in Yangon and an aspiring musician."I feel like the youth having opportunities in every directions now that she's in power," Yan said. "The country couldn't be more proud. She's an icon to all women in Myanmar."Yan told Business Insider that Suu Kyi's democratic reforms like the freedom of expression have had on a tremendous impact on the music community there. And that the mending of US relations certainly been a good thing for his music career in the Myanmar."Twice as many people here go to shows nowadays than before. Young people are starting to listen to what they prefer whether that be rock, pop, hip hop or metal." Yan said. "I think that US lifting certain trade sanctions will surely positively affect the country in the coming future."World leaders were not as optimistic about Suu Kyi last week, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/13/647338291/myanmars-suu-kyi-rohingya-situation-could-have-been-handled-better">when she appeared to dismiss the plight of two jailed Reuters journalists</a> sentenced on September 3 to seven years in prison for violating the Official Secrets Act inside Myanmar.Those two journalists, =Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were reporting on the alleged killings of 10 villagers in a Rohingya Muslim community. They were arrested in December. At the World Economic Forum on Thursday, Suu Kyi said of the journalists:"The case has been held in open court. If anybody feels there has been a miscarriage of justice, I would like them to point it out," Suu Kyi said."I wonder whether very many people have actually read the summary of the judgment, which had nothing to do with freedom of expression at all, it had to do with the Official Secrets Act. But I don't think anybody has actually bothered to read it."She added: "They were not jailed because they were journalists."Those remarks did not go unnoticed. US Vice President Mike Pence and the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley were among those who condemned her remarks."First, in denial about the abuse the Burmese military placed on the Rohingya, now justifying the imprisonment of the two Reuters reporters who reported on the ethnic cleansing. Unbelievable," Haley said.Sydney Morning Herald editor <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/no-surprises-but-aung-san-suu-kyi-shocks-with-comments-on-rohingya-20180914-p503r0.html">Michael Ruffles said it was</a> "shocking to watch the former human rights icon speak so coldly, and deflect so callously, about issues which have earned international condemnation."Minar Pimple, the senior global director of global operations at Amnesty International <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/09/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-in-shameful-defence-of-reuters-journalists-conviction/">said Suu Kyi's comments</a> were "disgraceful," and an attempt to "defend the indefensible.""To say that this case had 'nothing to do with freedom of expression' and that Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo 'were not jailed for being journalists' is a deluded misrepresentation of the facts," he said."There is still some optimism for the long run but it is no longer euphoric and I think that a sense of realism has come in," Ko said. "Of course The Reuters sentence and the Rohingya situation has hurt business. I think western investors have viewed the country's recent political missteps as a sign that the country may still be too risky and would rather not be associated with it yet."For its part, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-funded-port-gives-myanmar-a-sinking-feeling-1534325404">Myanmar has also expressed doubts about some would-be investment partners</a>, like China. As recently as August, Myanmar government officials sought to downsize a Chinese-funded port project over fears it would land the country in one of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-debt-trap-diplomacy-hits-philippines-with-exorbitant-loans-2018-3">China's infamous debt traps</a>.Myanmar's unique constitution has also made it hard for Suu Kyi to push her progressive social agenda, forcing her to battle with the competing interests of the country's military leadership. Suu Kyi's political party represents Myanmar's first democratically elected group in 25 years, but the constitution automatically gives members of the military one-fourth of the votes in parliament.In Myanmar, the commander-in-chief of the military does not answer to the head of state and has power over the country's police, and key cabinet positions in the government.What happened to the Reuters reporters may have been driven by the country's military, but what happens next depends on Suu Kyi. She has two options: she can stay quiet to appease the nation's military leadership, or she can step in and urge the president to pardon the reporters.Suu Kyi has the same decision to make regarding the future of her country's economy.She could jump-start Myanmar's economy by implementing business-friendly reforms to encourage investment in infrastructure and deregulate the country's financial system in hopes of spurring foreign investment, or she can similarly stay quiet and maintain the status quo that has benefited the old guard by maintaining the country's old policies of heavy regulations that were established during its socialist rule.Bill Richardson, who previously served as governor of New Mexico before Suu Kyi appointed him to serve on her 10-person advisory board, said history indicates that the odds of Suu Kyi demanding a pardon for the Reuters journalists are "very slim."Multiple news outlets in January reported Richardson as saying he resigned from Suu Kyi's advisory board when he realized that she was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/25/aung-san-suu-kyi-lacks-moral-leadership-us-diplomat-bill-richardson-quits-rohingya-panel">"lacking moral leadership."</a>Ko and other businesspeople in Yangon remain optimistic for an economic renaissance in the country. They believe good returns are possible if the Burmese government chooses to refocus on economic reforms and invest in its infrastructure, just as it did with the telecommunications sector, he said.Suu Kyi needs to learn from the first half of her term by showing the international community that Myanmar is committed to the freedom of the press and democracy. Experts and observers say she also needs to give suffering Rohingya Muslims the attention they deserve.If she can do this, she might be able to capture the momentum she had when she first came to power, Ko said. He believes Myanmar's economic strength can only grow if Suu Kyi makes the right decisions."The government has to demonstrate to foreign investors what my company and clients have seen over the years," Ko said."The entrepreneurs here in Myanmar are among the most resilient and that these companies and their investors are willing to reinvest their returns into other sectors in the country.""Burmese entrepreneurs can build businesses that are as large as and as good as any in the region," he said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tick-bite-can-make-you-allergic-red-meat-2018-8">One bite from this tick could ruin red meat for the rest of your life</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/JiYrEKWm-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

In Myanmar, economic opportunity and a renewed commitment to democracy are on the horizon if leader Aung San Suu Kyi wants them

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bec09a4e4218a70b13e1d07-1200/pence aung san suu kyi.jpg" border="0" alt="pence aung san suu kyi" data-mce-source="Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters" data-mce-caption="US Vice President Mike Pence condemned Myanmar's persecution of the Rohingya ethnic group in front of the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in Singapore on November 14." />Athit Perawongmetha/ReutersUS Vice President Mike Pence condemned Myanmar's persecution of the Rohingya ethnic group in front of the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in Singapore on November 14.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>US Vice President Mike Pence and Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi held an awkward bilateral meeting in Singapore on Wednesday.</li><li>Pence condemned the Myanmar military's ongoing attacks against the Rohingya Muslims, which has seen 700,000 stateless Rohingya fleeing the country.</li><li>Myanmar's security forces have since last August waged a massive campaign against the ethnic group. The UN reported this year that soldiers shot and stabbed villagers, raped women, and burned homes.</li><li>Pence also brought up the jailing of two Reuters journalists who were jailed under the country's official secrets law while reporting a story about the Rohingya last year.</li><li>Suu Kyi was stony-faced throughout Pence's remarks, and suggested that the two leaders had "different points of view."</li></ul>US Vice President Mike Pence grilled Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to her face about her country's "violence and persecution" of the Rohingya Muslims and jailing of two journalists, two major human rights issues plaguing the Southeast Asian nation.Speaking to Suu Kyi in Singapore on Wednesday, Pence told Suu Kyi that he was "anxious" about the Myanmar military's ongoing attacks against the Rohingya in western Rakhine state, and that they were "without excuse." Myanmar's army launched a massive offensive against the group last August after militant Rohingya targeted the security forces, resulting in 700,000 stateless Rohingya fleeing across the country's border into Bangladesh. Tens of thousands are believed to be dead.According to <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/myanmar-army-chief-must-be-prosecuted-for-genocide-against-rohingya-muslims-un-report-says-1.764122">a United Nations report in August</a>, soldiers shot and stabbed villagers, raped women, and burned homes while driving out thousands of ethnic Rohingya from their homes last September.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a5249473225de9a0a8b4ca4-800/ohingya-insurgents-say-they-have-no-option-but-to-fight-myanmar.jpg" border="0" alt="Aerial view of a burned Rohingya village near Maungdaw, north of Rakhine State, Myanmar, September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File Photo" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Pictures of the Year: Persecuted Rohingya Muslims flee violence in Myanmar" />Thomson ReutersA burned village in Rakhine state as a result of the Rohingya violence.</div></div></div><h2>Pence goes all in</h2>Referring to the Rohingya crisis, Pence told Suu Kyi:"This is a tragedy that has touched the hearts of millions of Americans. The violence and persecution by military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse."I'm anxious to hear about the progress that you're making, holding those accountable who are responsible for the violence that displaced so many hundreds of thousands and created such suffering, including the loss of life."In addition to the impact on the hundreds of thousands affected, we are anxious to hear about the progress of making it possible for the Rohingya to voluntarily come home."The US vice president's remarks were the Trump administration's strongest rebuke of the Rohingya crisis yet, Reuters reported.Read more: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/i-visited-the-rohingya-camps-in-myanmar-heres-what-i-saw-2018-6">I visited the Rohingya camps in Myanmar - here's what I saw</a><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bec09c866be5048c64c3b65-1200/pence aung san suu kyi myanmar.jpg" border="0" alt="pence aung san suu kyi myanmar" data-mce-source="Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters" data-mce-caption="US Vice President Mike Pence condemned Myanmar's persecution of the Rohingya ethnic group in front of the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in Singapore on November 14." />Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters</div></div></div><h2>Jailing of journalists</h2>Pence also noted that Myanmar's jailing of two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested in Yangon last December because they allegedly broke the country's official secrets law.The journalists had been investigating the killing of ten Rohingya Muslim villagers in Rakhine. Reuters published that report in February.Pence said: "In America, we believe in our democratic institutions and ideals, including a free and independent press. And the arrest and jailing of two journalists last fall was deeply troubling to millions of Americans, and I look forward to speaking with you about the premium that we place on a free and independent press."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bec0c73da27f8073b335314-800/un-says-reuters-report-on-myanmar-massacre-alarming-need-for-investigation.jpg" border="0" alt="Ten Rohingya Muslim men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village September 2, 2017. Handout via REUTERS" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Ten Rohingya Muslim men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village" />Thomson ReutersTen Rohingya Muslim men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village. These photos were part of the jailed Reuters journalists' investigation.</div></div></div><h2>"We understand our country better"</h2>Suu Kyi, who Reuters said remained stony-faced as Pence spoke, responded by suggesting that she and Pence had "different points of view" and that "we understand our country better."She said: "Of course, people have different points of view but the point is that you should exchange those views and learn to understand each other better."And, in a way, we can say that we understand our country better than any other country does. And I'm sure you will say the same of yours, that you understand your own country better than anybody else does. So we are in a better position to explain to you what is happening and how we see things panning out."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bad8db64fe8070b1b8b4567-1200/aung san suu kyi.jpg" border="0" alt="aung san suu kyi" data-mce-source="Dan Himbrechts - Pool/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the New Colombo Plan Reception during the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, special summit on March 17, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Australia is hosting leaders from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations during the 3-day special summit." />Dan Himbrechts - Pool/Getty Images</div></div></div>Suu Kyi, once hailed as a champion for democracy during her 21-year house arrest in Myanmar, has been stripped of multiple international honors over her handling of the Rohingya crisis. Last year she became the first person to have her <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/myanmars-aung-san-suu-kyi-officially-stripped-of-honorary-canadian-citizenship-2018-10">honorary Canadian citizenship revoked</a>.On Tuesday Amnesty International withdrew Suu Kyi of the Ambassador of Conscience award given to her in 2009, noting that "we are profoundly dismayed that you no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage, and the undying defence of human rights."While some critics have called for her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize to be withdrawn, the foundation that oversees the award said it would not do so.Read more: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/aung-san-suu-kyi-loses-another-human-rights-award-2018-11">Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of another human-rights award as legal net squeezes Myanmar's generals</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-nfl-league-usfl-sued-tweet-three-dollars-2017-9">Trump once won a lawsuit against the NFL - but the result was an embarrassment</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/vlMvpjcK-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Mike Pence grilled Myanmar leader Suu Kyi directly to her face over the Rohingya crisis

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Marty Baron is executive editor of The Washington Post where he oversees a staff of more than 800 journalists.</li><li>In his <keyword id="9235048" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="commencement-address">commencement address</keyword>, Baron speaks to the challenges facing a free press and American democracy if people fail to agree on what constitutes truth and fact, and instead base decisions around people's assertions or opinions.</li><li>He urges students to embrace education, expertise, and experience throughout their lives, and continue to model <keyword id="53675" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="harvard">Harvard</keyword>'s motto 'Veritas,' which is Latin for 'truth.'</li><li>Watch Baron's speech and read the full transcript below.</li></ul><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jSn_QW9FFiI" frameborder="0"></iframe>Good morning from my home. Like you, I wish we were together on campus. There is so much now we can no longer take for granted. The air we breathe is first among them. So, those of us who are healthy have ample reason to be grateful.I am also grateful to Harvard and to President Bacow for inviting me to be with you. To the Harvard <keyword id="8665841" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="class-of-2020">Class of 2020</keyword>, congratulations. And congratulations to the parents, professors, mentors and friends who helped you along the way. Joining you for graduation is a high honor.For me, this is an opportunity — an opportunity to speak about subjects that I believe are of real urgency. Especially now during a worldwide health emergency. I would like to discuss with you the need for a commitment to facts and to truth. Only a few months ago, I would have settled for emphasizing that our democracy depends on facts and truth. And it surely does. But now, as we can plainly see, it is more elemental than that. Facts and truth are matters of life and death. Misinformation, disinformation, delusions, and deceit can kill. Here is what can move us forward: Science and medicine. Study and knowledge. Expertise and reason. In other words, fact and truth. I want to tell you why free expression by all of us and an independent press, imperfect though we may be, is essential to getting at the truth. And why we must hold government to account. And hold other powerful interests to account as well. When I began thinking about these remarks, I expected, of course, to be on Harvard's campus. And I thought: Not a bad place to talk about a free press. Not a bad place to talk about our often-testy relationship with official power.It was in Boston, after all, where the first newspaper of the American colonies was founded. Its first edition was published September 25, 1690. The very next day, the governor and council of Massachusetts shut it down.So, the press of this country has long known what it means to face a government that aims to silence it. Fortunately, there has been progress. With the First Amendment, James Madison championed the right of "freely examining public characters and measures." But it took a very long time before we as a nation fully absorbed what Madison was talking about. We took many ominous turns. We had the Alien and Sedition acts under John Adams, the Sedition and Espionage Acts under Woodrow Wilson, the McCarthy era. It was not always clear where we as a nation would end up.Finally, witnessing the authoritarianism of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, we began to secure a free press in this country. The Supreme Court would forcefully emphasize the press' role in guaranteeing a democracy.Justice Hugo Black said it well decades later: "The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people."Not only the secrets of government, I would add. Our duty to inform the public does not stop there. Not by a long shot.That was evident during my years as a journalist in Boston. Amid today's crisis, it seems like another era. And I guess it is. But I want to tell you about it — because I think it remains instructive about what a strong, independent press must do.I started as editor of the Boston Globe in the summer of 2001. One day prior to my start date, a Globe columnist wrote about a shocking case. A priest had been accused of abusing as many as 80 kids. A lawsuit alleged that the cardinal in Boston at the time knew about the serial abuse, didn't do anything about it — and repeatedly reassigned this priest from parish to parish, warning no one, over decades.The Archdiocese called the accusations baseless and reckless.The Globe columnist wrote that the truth might never be known. Internal documents that might reveal it had been sealed by a judge.On my first day of work, we asked the question: How do we get at the truth? Because the public deserved to know.That question led us to challenge the judge's secrecy order. And our journalists launched an investigation of their own.In early 2002, we published what we had learned through reporting and by prevailing in court. We published the truth: The cardinal did know about the abuse by this priest. Yet he kept him in ministry, thus enabling further abuse.Dozens of clergy in the diocese had committed similar offenses. The cardinal had covered it all up. And a bigger truth would emerge: Covering up such abuse had been practice and policy in the Church for decades. Only now the powerful were being held to account. Late in 2002, after hundreds of stories on this subject, I received a letter from a Father Thomas P. Doyle. Father Doyle had struggled for years — in vain — to get the Church to confront the very issue we were writing about. He expressed deep gratitude for our work. "It is momentous," he wrote, "and its good effects will reverberate for decades."Father Doyle did not see journalists as the enemy. He saw us an ally when one was sorely needed. So did abuse survivors. I kept Father Doyle's letter on my desk — a daily reminder of what journalists must do when we see evidence of wrongdoing.Harvard's commencement speaker two years ago, civil rights pioneer John Lewis, once said this: "When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something."We as journalists have the capacity — along with the constitutional right — to say and do something. We also have the obligation. And we must have the will. So must you. Every one of you has a stake in this idea of free expression. You want to be free to express your views. You should be free to hear the views of others, the same or different. You want to be free to watch any movie. To read any book. To listen to any lyrics. You should be free to say what you know is true without threat of government reprisal.And you should acknowledge this if you value these freedoms that come with democracy: Democracy cannot exist without a free and independent press. It never has. Leaders who crave more power for themselves always move quickly to crush an independent press. Next, they destroy free expression itself.Sadly, much of the world is on that worrisome path. And efforts in this country to demonize, delegitimize, and dehumanize the press give license to other governments to do the same — and to do far worse.By the end of last year, a near-record 250 journalists worldwide were sitting in prison. Thirty of them faced accusations of "false news," a charge virtually unheard-of only seven years earlier. Turkey has been trading places with China as No. 1 on the list of countries that jail the most journalists. The Turkish government has shut down more than 100 media outlets and charged many journalists as terrorists. Independent media have been largely extinguished. China, of course, imposes some of the world's tightest censorship on what its citizens can see and hear.In Hungary, the prime minister has waged war on independent media. Harvard Nieman fellow Andras Petho, who runs an investigative reporting center there, notes that the prime minister's business allies are "taking over hundreds of outlets and turning them into propaganda machines." Like other heads of state, Hungary's prime minister has exploited the pandemic to grab more power, suppress inconvenient facts, and escalate pressure on news outlets. A new law threatens up to five-year jail terms against those accused of spreading supposedly false information. Independent news outlets have questioned how the crisis was managed. And the fear now is that such accountability journalism will lead to harassment and arrests, as it has in other countries.In the Philippines, the courageous Maria Ressa, who founded the country's largest online-only news site, has been battling government harassment for years on other fronts. She now faces prosecution on bogus charges of violating foreign ownership laws. By the end of last year, she had posted bail eight times. Her real violation? She brought scrutiny to the president.In Myanmar, two Reuters journalists — Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo — were imprisoned for more than 500 days for investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys. Finally, a year ago, they were released.In 2018, an opinion writer for The Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi, walked into Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to get documents he needed to marry. He was murdered there at the hands of a team sent by highest-level Saudi officials. His offense? He had sharply criticized the Saudi government.In Mexico, murderous vengeance against journalists is common. Last year, at least five were killed, more than in any other country.I think also of the risks that American journalists have taken to inform the public. Among them are colleagues I can never forget. One is Elizabeth Neuffer. Seventeen years ago this month, I stood before her friends at the Boston Globe to report that she had died covering the war in Iraq. Elizabeth was 46, an experienced foreign correspondent, a mentor to others; vivacious and brave. Her Iraqi driver was traveling at high speed because of the risk of abductions. He lost control. Elizabeth died instantly; her translator, too.Elizabeth had a record of fearlessness in investigating war crimes and human rights abuses. Her goal: Reveal the world as it is — because someone might then make things better. Another colleague was Anthony Shadid. In 2002, I visited Anthony, then a reporter for the Globe, after he was shot and wounded in Ramallah. Lying in a hospital in Jerusalem, it was clear that he had narrowly escaped being paralyzed. Anthony recovered and went on to report from Iraq, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes for The Washington Post. From Egypt, where he was harassed by police. From Libya, where he and three New York Times colleagues were detained by pro-government militias and physically abused. He died in 2012, at age 43, while reporting in Syria, apparently of an asthma attack. Anthony told the stories of ordinary people. Without him, their voices would have gone unheard.And now I think constantly of reporters, photographers, and videographers who risk their own well-being to be with heroic frontline health workers — frontline workers of every sort — to share their stories.Anthony, Elizabeth, and my present-day colleagues sought to be eyewitnesses. To see the facts for themselves. To discover the truth and tell it. As a profession, we maintain there is such a thing as fact, there is such a thing as truth. At Harvard, where the school's motto is "Veritas," presumably you do, too. Truth, we know, is not a matter of who wields power or who speaks loudest. It has nothing to do with who benefits or what is most popular. And ever since the Enlightenment, modern society has rejected the idea that truth derives from any single authority on Earth.To determine what is factual and true, we rely on certain building blocks. Start with education. Then there is expertise. And experience. And, above all, we rely on evidence. We see that acutely now when people's health can be jeopardized by false claims, wishful thinking, and invented realities. The public's safety requires the honest truth. Yet education, expertise, experience, and evidence are being devalued, dismissed. and denied. The goal is clear: to undermine the very idea of objective fact, all in pursuit of political gain.Along with that is a systematic effort to disqualify traditional independent arbiters of fact. The press tops the list of targets. But others populate the list, too: courts, historians, even scientists and medical professionals — subject-matter experts of every type. And so today the government's leading scientists find their motives questioned, their qualifications mocked — despite a lifetime of dedication and achievement that has made us all safer.In any democracy, we want vigorous debate about our challenges and the correct policies. But what becomes of democracy if we cannot agree on a common set of facts, if we can't agree on what even constitutes a fact?Are we headed for extreme tribalism, believing only what our ideological soulmates say? Or do we become so cynical that we think everyone always lies for selfish reasons? Or so nihilistic that we conclude no one can ever really know what is true or false; so, no use trying to find out? Regardless, we risk entering dangerous territory. Hannah Arendt, in 1951, wrote of this in her first major work, "The Origins of Totalitarianism." There, she observed "the possibility that gigantic lies and monstrous falsehoods can eventually be established as unquestioned facts . . . that the difference between truth and falsehood may cease to be objective and may become a mere matter of power and cleverness, of pressure and infinite repetition."One hundred years ago — in 1920 — a renowned journalist and leading thinker, Walter Lippmann, harbored similar worries. Lippmann, once a writer for the Harvard Crimson, warned of a society where people "cease to respond to truths, and respond simply to opinions . . . what somebody asserts, not what actually is." Lippmann wrote those words because of concerns about the press itself. He saw our defects and hoped we might fix them, thus improving how information got to the public. Ours is a profession that still has many flaws. We make mistakes of fact, and we make mistakes of judgment. We are at times overly impressed with what we know when much remains for us to learn.In making mistakes, we are like people in every other profession. And we, too, must be held accountable. What frequently gets lost, though, is the contribution of a free and independent press to our communities and our country — and to the truth. I think back to the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when the Miami Herald showed how lax zoning, inspection, and building codes had contributed to the massive destruction. Homes and lives are safer today as a result.In 2016, the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia exposed how opioids had flooded the state's depressed communities, contributing to the highest death rates in the country.In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana's newspapers were indispensable sources of reliable information for residents.The Washington Post in 2007 revealed the shameful neglect and mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital. Corrective action was immediate.The Associated Press in 2015 documented a slave trade behind our seafood supply. Two thousand slaves were freed as a result. The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017 exposed sexual predators in elite boardrooms. A movement of accountability for abuses against women took root.The New York Times in 1971 was the first to publish the Pentagon Papers, revealing a pattern of official deceit in a war that killed more than 58,000 Americans and countless others. The Washington Post broke open the Watergate scandal in 1972. That led ultimately to the president's resignation.Those news organizations searched for the truth and told it, undeterred by pushback or pressure or vilification. Facing the truth can cause extreme discomfort. But history shows that we as a nation become better for that reckoning. It is in the spirit of the preamble to our Constitution: "to form a more perfect union." Toward that end, it is an act of patriotism.W.E.B. Du Bois, the great scholar and African American activist — and the first African American to graduate with a PhD from Harvard — cautioned against the falsification of events in relating our nation's history. In 1935, distressed at how deceitfully America's Reconstruction period was being taught, Du Bois assailed the propaganda of the era. "Nations reel and stagger on their way," he wrote. "They make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth be ascertainable?"At this university, you answer that question with your motto — "Veritas." You seek the truth — with scholarship, teaching and dialogue — knowing that it really matters.My profession shares with you that mission — the always arduous, often tortuous and yet essential pursuit of truth. It is the demand that democracy makes upon us. It is the work we must do. We will keep at it. You should, too. None of us should ever stop.Thank you for listening. Thank you for honoring me. Good luck to you all. And please, stay well.Martin "Marty" Baron is executive editor of The Washington Post. He oversees The Post's print and digital news operations and a staff of more than 800 journalists.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-legendary-journalist-martin-baron-commencement-harvard-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

Legendary journalist Marty Baron offered critical advice for the next generation in his 20-minute Harvard commencement speech: 'We risk entering dangerous territory.

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Legendary journalist Marty Baron offered critical advice for the next generation in his 20-minute Harvard commencement speech: 'We risk entering dangerous territory.

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