The news just hours ago that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been released after more than 500 days behind bars, was met not only by cheers outside Yangon’s Insein Prison, but a massive outpouring of celebration and support online.
Below we’ve collected some of our favorite tweets, photos and thoughts from fellow journalists, rights activists, and UN representatives from that ongoing celebration — starting with the sight of happy families reunited and Wa Lone hugging his 8-month-old daughter for the first time.
FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo!!!!! pic.twitter.com/ZEnJOtkWxn
— Antoni Slodkowski (@slodek) May 7, 2019
Wa Lone, Pulitzer Prize-winner, minutes after his release from prison. "I'm really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues. I can't wait to go to my newsroom." #WaLoneKyawSoeOo pic.twitter.com/q1QF5GAfLs
— Poppy McPherson (@poppymcp) May 7, 2019
Pulitzer prize-winning #Reuters reporters Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo are free.
Wa Lone tells me he will never stop being a journalist. #Myanmar#PressFreedom #FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo pic.twitter.com/jWNAtDjV86
— Nick Beake (@Beaking_News) May 7, 2019
Here are some photos taken as Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released from a Yangon prison today. The common denominator: joy! Huge thanks to everyone around the world and inside Myanmar who fought so hard to #FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo #JournalismIsNotACrime pic.twitter.com/CmcCvo1GMI
— Andrew RC Marshall (@Journotopia) May 7, 2019
What a great day! Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo got released from Insein prison this morning. #reuters #myanmar #PressFreedom
— Aung Naing Soe (@AungNaingSoeAns) May 7, 2019
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been pardoned by President Win Myint and will be released from Insein Prison today to rejoin their families
They spent 17 months behind bars for exposing a massacre of ten Rohingya men that the Myanmar army later admitted to
— Ben Dunant (@BenedictDunant) May 7, 2019
Fantastic news! Myanmar has freed two @Reuters journalists whose outstanding coverage of a massacre of Rohingya won them a Pulitzer. Warmest wishes to them and their families. https://t.co/WI1wLHnKmv via @
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) May 7, 2019
But while every journalist and commentator is celebrating the release of the two Reuters journalists, rights activists and commentators are looking to the road ahead and massive work yet to be done to repair Myanmar’s tattered state of press freedom and freedom of speech.
Congratulations !!! They shouldn't have had to go through this ordeal for doing their job! https://t.co/gbDQWfVD1V
— Yanghee Lee (@YangheeLeeSKKU) May 7, 2019
"The UN in #Myanmar considers the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo a step toward improving the freedom of the press and a sign of Government’s commitment to Myanmar’s transition to democracy."#FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo pic.twitter.com/6mJR7Qchpp
— Stanislav Saling (@StanislavSaling) May 7, 2019
48 people are behind the bars in prison for doing /speaking out what they believed in.
We welcome the amnesty for #WaloneKyawSoeOo.
Yet, we demand to #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners
— Thinzar Shunlei Yi (@thinzashunleiyi) May 7, 2019
Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director, summarized that line of thought in a statement released shortly after the two were set free.
“We congratulate Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo on walking free from unjust imprisonment and applaud they have now been reunited with their families. These courageous investigative journalists should have never been arrested, much less imprisoned, in the first place and their release was long overdue… literally dozens of other Burmese journalists and bloggers are still facing baseless criminal charges for their reporting about the Tatmadaw or NLD government officials.”
When asked about the road ahead for Myanmar, Robertson told Coconuts Yangon that it’s time for diplomats, UN officials and activists to “redouble efforts to end Myanmar’s campaign of expression and independent journalism.”
“There are many other Myanmar journalists facing changes in similarly bogus cases where the real issue is the officials simply don’t like what is being reported about them,” he continued.
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