2 journalists jailed in Myanmar will receive PEN award

NEW YORK – Two reporters imprisoned in Myanmar are receiving an award from PEN America.

The literary and human rights organization announced Tuesday that it was giving the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The two Reuters journalists were detained last December on charges of violating a British colonial-era secrecy law that a former military junta once used to muzzle freedom of speech. Authorities said the reporters received “important secret papers” from two policemen who had worked in Rakhine state, where security forces are blamed for mass killings, rapes and arson.

The Freedom to Write Award was established in 1987 and honours those who have risked adversity in the cause of free expression.

___

Online:

https://pen.org/