The ruling on two Reuters journalists detained in Myanmar on suspicion of violating a state secrets act had been expected on Monday. The judge had apparently become ill.
Image: Reuters/A. Wang
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The verdict in the case against two Reuters journalists on trial in Myanmar has been postponed until next week, a judge said Monday.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are accused of having breached a state secrets act for research they were conducting into Rohingya Muslims.
They were arrested in December for allegedly illegally possessing official documents related to the crackdown in Rakhine state. Both have plead not guilty to violation of the Official Secrets Act.
District judge Khin Maung Maung told the court in Yangon that the judge in the case was sick. The ruling had been expected on Monday and is now postponed until September 3.
One of the journalists' lawyers, Khin Maung Zaw, said he felt "half optimistic and half pessimistic" about next week's verdict.
"I am quite certain from the legal point of view and from the testimony of the witnesses, that they are innocent," he told reporters outside the court, adding that he would appeal a negative decision to the district court.
The EU, US and media organizations have condemned the arrest of the journalists.
'Truth is on our side'
Following a brief hearing, Wa Lone told reporters that he and Kyaw Soe Oo "are not afraid or shaken."
"The truth is on our side. Whatever the situation is, we will not be shaken. They cannot make us weak," he said.
Reuters released a statement expressing disappointment at their reporters not having received a decision on Monday.
"Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have already spent more than eight months in prison based on allegations of a crime they did not commit," the statement read.
Almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Buddhist-majority country for neighboring Bangladesh in what UN officials and human rights groups have described as a state policy of "ethnic cleansing." An estimated 6,700 people have died in the conflict since August 2017.
The flight of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh
Rohingya Muslims fleeing from fighting in Myanmar face attempts by Bangladesh authorities to send them home despite a UN appeal that they be allowed to stay. The Rohingya are classed as illegal immigrants in Myanmar.
Seeking refuge
A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine State triggered a crackdown by Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to Bangladesh. About 400 people have been killed in the clashes in Buddist-majority Myanmar.
Mass evacuation
A Rohingya man passes a child though a barbed wire border fence on the border with Bangladesh. Myanmar accused the Rohingya insurgents of torching seven villages, one outpost, and two parts of Maungdaw town.
Image: Getty Images/R.Asad
Buddhist refugees on their way south
The crackdown by Myanmar forces also sparked a mass evacuation of thousands of Buddhist residents of the area. Tension has long been high between the Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists, leading to bloody rioting in 2012. Rakhine Buddhists, feeling unsafe after the upsurge in fighting, are moving south to the state's capital, Sittwe, where Buddhists are a majority and have greater security.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
No entry
Bangladeshi border guards block people from crossing. Thousands of Rohingyas have sought to flee the fighting to Bangladesh, with nearly 30,000 crossing over. Bangladesh, which is already host to more than 400,000 Rohingya said it will not accept any more refugees, despite an appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety.
Image: Reuters/M. Ponir Hossain
Humanitarian crisis
An aid worker with an international agency in Bangladesh reports: "What we're seeing is that many Rohingya people are sick. This is because they got stuck in the border before they could enter. It's mostly women and children." The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M.Alam
Not welcome in Bangladesh
A group of Rohingya refugees takes shelter at the Kutuupalang makeshift refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's unwillingness to host more refugees became apparent in the government's plan to relocate Rohingyas to a remote island that is mostly flooded during the monsoon season.
Image: Reuters/M. P. Hossain
Stranded in no man's land
Rohingya children make their way through water as they try to come to the Bangladesh side from no man's land. Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are believed to be stuck at the border to Bangladesh.
