Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi defended a court decision to jail two Reuters reporters. "They were not jailed because they were journalists" but because "the court has decided that they had broken the Official Secrets Act", she said. Suu Kyi, once garlanded as a global rights champion, has come under intense pressure to use her moral force inside Myanmar to defend the pair. Suu Kyi, who has bristled at foreign criticism of her country, on Thursday softened her defence of the crackdown against "terrorists" from the Muslim minority. This week, the UN rights office accused Myanmar of "waging a campaign against journalists".

Source: Bangkok Post September 13, 2018 03:56 UTC