Germany says journalists in Myanmar just supported search for truth

The German government's human rights commissioner on Monday called the conviction of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar for their reporting of the Rohingya crisis "a harsh setback" for freedom of the press in the southeastern Asia country.

A Myanmar judge has found Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and jailed them for seven years.

Baerbel Kofler, the human rights commissioner for the German government, said she was crushed to hear the news and expressed concern that the conviction would intimidate other journalists. "The two journalists ... did nothing but support the search for truth in Rakhine (state)," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)