Kyaw Soe Oo

Kyaw Soe Oo (Burmese: ကျော်စိုးဦး) is a Myanmar Reuters journalist who, with fellow reporter Wa Lone, was arrested on 12 December 2017 in Myanmar because of their investigation into the Inn Din massacre. A police witness testified that their arrests were a case of entrapment. It is believed their arrests were intended to intimidate journalists.

Kyaw Soe Oo
ကျော်စိုးဦး
Born
Rakhine, Myanmar
OccupationJournalist
SpouseChit Su Win
Children1 daughter
AwardsPulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners
Police escorting detained Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo

The case received international attention. During 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo received a number of international awards, including being listed among Time magazine's Persons of the Year for 2018. They have been the subject of human rights appeals by Amnesty International, PEN America, and Reporters Without Borders.

The 2019 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize was awarded to Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone on 11 April 2019 for their "courage and commitment to freedom of expression".[1] On 16 April 2019, the two journalists were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.[2][3] They were released on 7 May 2019 after a presidential amnesty.[4][5]

Early life

Oo is from a Rakhine Buddhist family in Sittwe.[6]

Career

Oo began working as a journalist for Root Investigative Agency, an outlet for Rakhine news. After violence began in northern Rakhine, Oo began working for Reuters.[6] Oo, along with fellow Reuters journalist Wa Lone, was investigating the Inn Din massacre; they were arrested on 12 December 2017 and released on 7 May 2019. Ara Darzi and Amal Clooney were involved in securing their release.[7]

Inn Din massacre
Further information: Inn Din massacre

Following attacks on the Rohingya people of Rakhine State, Myanmar, in late August 2017, and the burning of Rohingya homes in the hamlet of Inn Din, many Rohingya villagers fled to the mountains. On 1 September 2017, armed soldiers and paramilitaries detained ten Rohingya men who reportedly had gone to the beach to look for food. The next morning they were shot, killed, and buried in a mass grave.[8]

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were investigating the mass grave found in Inn Din.[9] They interviewed Buddhist villagers and security personnel and gathered both verbal accounts and photographic evidence of the massacre.[10][11][12]

Personal life

Oo is married to Chit Su Win. They met while she previously worked for his family. They have a daughter named Moe Thin Wai Zan.[6]

Awards and honors
  • 2018, included in Time magazine's Persons of the Year, which recognized several persecuted journalists as "guardians" in a "war on truth".[13]

The following 2018 awards were received jointly with Wa Lone:

References
  1. Davies, Wilder (11 April 2019). "Reuters Journalists Jailed in Myanmar to Receive U.N. Press Freedom Prize". Time. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  2. Watson, Angus (16 April 2019). "Imprisoned Myanmar journalists awarded Pulitzer prize". CNN. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  3. Trotta, Daniel (16 April 2019). "Jailed Reuters reporters, U.S. border photographers win Pulitzer..." Reuters. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. Goldman, Russell; Ives, Mike (2019-05-06). "Myanmar Releases Reuters Journalists Jailed for Reporting on Rohingya Crackdown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  5. "Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo: Reuters journalists freed in Myanmar". BBC News. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  6. "Key facts about Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo". Reuters. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  7. "Myanmar Releases Pulitzer Prize-Winning Reuters Journalists". NPR. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  8. Lone, Wa; Oo, Kyaw Soe; Lewis, Simon; Slodkowski, Antoni. "Massacre in Myanmar: One grave for 10 Rohingya men". Reuters. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  9. Rezaian, Jason (9 February 2018). "These journalists were jailed for investigating atrocities in Burma. This is what they found". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  10. Hughes, Roland (3 September 2018). "Myanmar Rohingya: How a 'genocide' was investigated". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  11. "Pair who reported on massacre to be tried". BBC News. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  12. "Reuters reporters to face Myanmar trial for 'breach' of secrecy act". South China Morning Post. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  13. Vick, Karl. "TIME Person of the Year 2018: The Guardians and the War on Truth". Time. TIME. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  14. Mayhew, Freddy (December 10, 2018). "British Journalism Awards 2018: FT takes top prize, Amelia Gentleman named Journalist of the Year + full list of winners". Press Gazette. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  15. Ivory-Harte, Joel (December 10, 2018). "Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo honoured at British Journalism Awards 2018". Reuters. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  16. Carpenter, Heather (November 27, 2018). "Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo win Journalist of the Year at Foreign Press Association Media Awards". Reuters. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  17. Mohamed, Alana (February 14, 2018). "Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo of Myanmar Selected to Receive the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award". Village Voice. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  18. "Osborn Elliott Prize For Excellence in Journalism on Asia". Asia Society. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  19. "Imprisoned Reuters Reporters Win Asia Society Osborn Elliott Prize for Stories on Anti-Rohingya Violence in Myanmar". WN.com. 2018-05-03. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  20. "Winners 2018". One World Media. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  21. Perez, Alan (September 8, 2018). "James Foley Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism awarded to two Reuters journalists sentenced to prison in Myanmar". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  22. "Jailed Reuters reporters receive IRE's Don Bolles Medal for courage". IRE. June 7, 2018. Archived from the original on 5 November 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  23. McCarren, Bill (November 28, 2018). "National Press Club Gala Puts Focus on Press Freedom; Historic Event Convenes Journalism Leaders". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 2019-05-07. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  24. "National Press Club recognizes Reuters journalists with Aubuchon Press Freedom Award". Reuters. February 28, 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  25. Davies, Wilder (11 April 2019). "Reuters Journalists Jailed in Myanmar to Receive U.N. Press Freedom Prize". Time. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  26. Watson, Angus (April 16, 2019). "Imprisoned Myanmar journalists awarded Pulitzer prize". CNN.com.
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