Black hoods, kneeling, no sleep - Reuters reporter in custody

Kyaw Soe Oo (photo), one of two Reuters journalists accused of obtaining state secrets, told a court on Tuesday the interrogators focused on a story the reporters had been working on about the murder by soldiers of 10 Rohingya Muslims, showing no interest in the documents they are accused of obtaining.

During two weeks of questioning by officers from military intelligence and police special branch, the reporters were denied access to their families and lawyers, Kyaw Soe Oo told Judge Ye Lwin, overseeing proceedings at the court in Yangon.

The 28-year-old reporter and his colleague Wa Lone, 32, face charges brought under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, in a case seen as a test of press freedom in Myanmar. Both have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.

The reporters say the documents were planted on them by a police officer during a meeting at a restaurant on the outskirts of Yangon on 12 December. Defence lawyers have said the evidence put forward by the prosecution shows the police entrapped the journalists to interfere with their reporting.

In his testimony, Yaw Soe Oo said they were arrested immediately after leaving the restaurant and taken to a nearby police station, before being driven to a special police interrogation site in northern Yangon called Aung Tha Pyay.

“They put black hoods on us outside the Htaunt Kyant police station and we stayed hooded until we arrived at Aung Tha Pyay,” said Kyaw Soe Oo.

“There were around 10 interrogation officers who took turns interrogating me. They didn’t let us rest and asked questions for three days straight while I was in handcuffs.”

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, defence lawyer Than Zaw Aung likened such treatment to how Myanmar’s former military rulers used to interrogate political opponents.

“Asking questions repeatedly for three days without letting them sleep made them mentally weak. This kind of mental and physical torture is a human rights’ violation,” said Than Zaw Aung.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said the government has “asked the police force whether they have illegal torture or not - the police said they guaranteed that they don’t do any illegal torture”.

Captain Myint Lwin, the officer in charge of the Htaunt Kyant police station, denied that the reporters were deprived of sleep or made to kneel when he testified to the court in June, saying officers were not allowed to “do such a thing”.

Kyaw Soe Oo testified throughout the day, before Judge Ye Lwin adjourned the proceedings. The trial will resume on Monday.

At the time of their arrest, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in the village of Inn Din in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State. ■