A Myanmar court today rejected a motion to drop a case against two Reuters journalists arrested months ago while reporting on the Rohingya crisis, pushing ahead with hearings that have sparked global outrage and fears of shrinking press freedoms. Myanmar has faced global condemnation and accusations of extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing and genocide as some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine to Bangladesh following a military crackdown on insurgents. Seven Myanmar soldiers have been sentenced to jail with hard labour for their part in the killings, according to a Facebook post by the army chief late Tuesday. The case against the journalists has proceeded despite international calls for their release. Last month Reuters announced that prominent rights attorney Amal Clooney had joined the legal team.

Source: dna April 11, 2018 04:41 UTC