Myanmar Sentences Two Journalists Working for Turkish Broadcaster

Myanmar government sentenced two foreign journalists working for Turkish broadcaster TRT World to two months in prison over charges of violating the country’s aircraft law.

According to a report by Reuters, Cameraman Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and reporter Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia, were detained on Oct. 27 along with local interpreter and driver.

The journalists went to the country to document the suffering of Muslim Rohingyas for TRT World, an English broadcaster with Turkey’s state-run TRT. Police detained them for allegations of attempting to fly a drone near Parliament in capital Naypyitaw.

Myanmar government has been increasingly sensitive over international coverage of the Rohingya crisis. More than half a million Rohingya flew to neighboring Bangladesh, escaping a crackdown by the Myanmar army.

Turkey’s portrayal of the crackdown as “genocide” ruffled feathers in Myanmar, which rejects the world outcry as intervention in its domestic affairs. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s Nobel winner leader, portrays the crackdown as necessary security measures to deal with extremist terrorism, a reading that is mostly rejected by the international community.