''ARTICLE 19 condemns today’s decision by the Yangon High Court to uphold the conviction of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Reuters journalists who helped expose a 2017 massacre of Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State by Myanmar Army soldiers. “The court’s decision to uphold the convictions of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo is a disgraceful act of repression and an assault on press freedom,” said Matthew Bugher, ARTICLE 19’s Head of Asia Programme. “By upholding the result of a sham trial, the court has surrendered its independence and aided the government in its crackdown on expression.” Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in December 2017 shortly after being handed a set of official documents by police officers in an apparent set-up operation aimed at obstructing their reporting on human rights violations in Rakhine State. On 3 September 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were convicted by a Yangon district court under section 3.1(c) of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The pair, who were jointly named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2018 alongside other journalists, were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment under the Act. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi later defended the judgment at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi, Viet Nam, to harsh criticism from over fifty human rights organizations. On 5 November 2018, an appeal was filed in the Yangon High Court. The journalists’ lawyers argued that the conviction should be overturned because of due process violations, the lack of consideration given to evidence of a police set-up, and the failure by the prosecution to prove the key elements of the crime...''