Coal Mine Collapses in Northern China, Killing at Least 21

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13 January 2019, 10:39

BEIJING — Twenty-one coal miners were killed when a mine collapsed in northern China, state media reported Sunday.

The disaster occurred Saturday in Shenmu in Shaanxi province in the heart of the country’s coal-mining belt, according to state TV and the Xinhua News Agency.

Sixty-six other miners were rescued, the city government said in a statement.

The number of fatalities reported in cave-ins, explosions and other disasters in Chinese coal mines has fallen sharply over the past decade but the industry still is the world’s deadliest.

Having Made Thailand Vintage Again, Made by Legacy Endures

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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12 January 2019, 16:16

Made by Legacy opened Friday at the Sermsuk Pier in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — You know something has become a brand when it becomes self-aware. Made By Legacy, that annual or sometimes bi-annual vintage flea market opened its 10th edition this weekend hawking memorabilia mostly in the form of pins, totes, T-shirts and hats.

That’s how Made By Legacy made and became comfortable with its cachet, if not fame, among Thai hipsters and their pretenders.

That’s not a bad thing in of itself. MBL’s 10th edition, which runs through Sunday midnight, has become well-known enough to attract a broader base. It must be noted that patina surfaces, real or faux, have been embraced by mainstream commercial design of furniture, wristwatches and clothing. That means accruing the kind of mass appeal and crowds that would drive away some of the early adopters.

Checking the place out on its opening evening Friday, nearly three years to the day since I first weighed in on its conceits, there fewer elite taste-makers and more upper-middle-class consumers and diners at the riverside Sermsuk Pier on the Thonburi side of town, near the Taksin Bridge.

Read: Made By Legacy Flea Market: Pretension or Desperation? (2016)

mbl16 — Thapphawut Parinyapariwat of Redlight Lab & Studio makes wet-plate collodion portraits.

DJs domestic and foreign kept drinkers imbibing alcohol or “artisanal” coffees and smoothies.

The usual suspects are there selling vintage totes, linen jackets from the circa-1920s, second-hand cordovan shoes purveyed by Rugged Supply & Co. and century-old wet plate photography by Redlight Lab & Studio and much more.

It is not cheap. Used cordovan leather loafers by Alden or Allen Edmonds could set one back 10,000 baht, and the smallest retro photographs by Redlight start at 1,600 baht.

There are also hand-painted vintage WWII chinos by Vichit, which start at 6,000 baht.

Small leather-crafting brands such as Made by Me and Sew & Needle are also present selling wallets and the like.

Food-wise, you have all manner of things described as “artisanal,” from hand-made steak burgers by American cooks and hand-cut fries by Frank Fries with Muay Thai spicy sauce (120 baht) to a cup of flat white by premium coffee purveyor Brava (110 baht).

The entrance fee of 100 baht ensures that people know nothing is cheap at Made by Legacy, though vintage hunters would say it’s worth the price of entry.

Not that many were dressed to the nines on Friday evening. The growing non-vintage crowd and me-too consumers also make the event feel less atmospheric that in earlier years. That may partly be due to Friday being a work day and one should expect a greater degree of panache this evening and tomorrow.

The unique thing about a once- or twice-a-year vintage flea market is that it makes it a real happening. People know it’s only for a few nights and therefore an occasion to get dressed up to revel in.

For that alone, Bangkok should thank Made by Legacy for ensuring that once or twice a year, the city has something special to offer.

Made by Legacy runs 3pm to midnight today and Sunday. The Sermsuk Warehouse Pepsi Pier is a five-minute walk or short ride from BTS Krung Thon Buri’s exit No. 3.

Report: FBI Probed Whether Trump Secretly Worked for Russia

By

Associated Press

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12 January 2019, 11:16

US President Donald Trump leads a round-table discussion on border security Friday with local leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Law enforcement officials became so concerned by President Donald Trump’s behavior in the days after he fired FBI Director James Comey that they began investigating whether he had been working for Russia against U.S. interests, The New York Times reported Friday.

The report cites unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

The inquiry forced counterintelligence investigators to evaluate whether Trump was a potential threat to national security, and they also sought to determine whether Trump was deliberately working for Russia or had unintentionally been influenced by Moscow.

The Times reports that FBI agents and some top officials became suspicious of Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign but didn’t launch an investigation at that time because they weren’t sure how to approach such a sensitive and important probe, according to the sources. But Trump’s behavior in the days around Comey’s May 2017 firing, specifically two instances in which he seemed to tie Comey’s ousting to the Russia investigation, helped trigger the counterintelligence part of the investigation, according to the Times’ sources.

Robert Mueller took over the investigation when he was appointed special counsel soon after Comey’s firing. The overall investigation is looking into Russian election interference and whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with the Russians. The Times says it’s unclear whether Mueller is still pursuing the counterintelligence angle.

Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Times that he had no knowledge of the inquiry but said that since it was opened a year and a half ago and they hadn’t heard anything, apparently “they found nothing.” Trump has also repeatedly and vociferously denied collusion with the Russians.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, called the Times’ report “absurd” and said Comey was fired for being “a disgraced partisan hack.” She also disputed that Trump had ever been soft on Russia.

“Unlike President Obama, who let Russia and other foreign adversaries push America around, President Trump has actually been tough on Russia,” Sanders said.

Opinion: #SaveRahaf and the Twitter Storm that Battered Two Kingdoms

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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12 January 2019, 10:58

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun Monday morning at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo: Sophiemcneill / Twitter

Eighteen-year-old Rahaf Mohammad al-Qunun was both media savvy and lucky to avoid being forcibly sent back from Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to Saudi Arabia to meet possible death.

The use of social media, in this case Twitter, became crucial in enabling the Saudi Arabian woman to call for help from her airport hotel room.

“@PravitR if you know anyone who can stop them from forcing me onto the flight please contact me asap” was a wake-up call tweeted at me from @Rahaf84427714 at 6:15am. It was Monday and happened to be a day off work, so I responded as what a human being ought to.

Within the next 24 hours or less, we saw Rahaf gain more than 45,000 followers and many supporters, including diplomats, the media and rights activists, to her cause.

Rahaf said she had denounced Islam and would meet certain death if sent back to Saudi Arabia. I suggested she reach out to the UNHCR on Twitter, and thank God, the Bangkok office of the UN Refugee Agency was efficient and managed to place her under its protection by that night, grant her refugee status by Wednesday and help put her on a plane to Canada on Friday night..

It seems a happy ending story but there was nothing certain about it.

Rahaf alleged that she was greeted by an agent of the Saudi Arabian embassy while landing Saturday in Bangkok to catch a connecting flight to Australia. Her passport was confiscated and she end up locking herself in Room 303 of Miracle Transit Hotel. Armed with nothing but a smartphone, Rahaf mobilized help and sympathy from her Twitter account.

The Thai authorities on Monday morning gave every indication she would be forced onto an 11:15am Kuwait Airlines flight back to Kuwait City where she had fled her family while traveling.

Many people did what they could, ringing the UNHCR, contacting Western embassies, and amplifying her SOS on social media and beyond.

By noon, upon learning that a close contact knew the hotel’s owning family, I asked her to reach out and see what was happening and request Rahaf be treated on a humanitarian grounds.

The source said the hotel, while sympathetic to what was happening, may not be able to prevent the Thai authorities from taking Rahaf away much longer. Time was of the essence.

On the phone, I alerted Phil Robertson, Bangkok-based deputy asia director for Human Rights Watch, that there may not be much time left. Even if Rahaf has managed to avoid being forced onto the flight.

By then the UNHCR had already dispatched a team to the hotel but wasn’t allowed to see Rahaf until later Monday.

Around that time on Twitter, some had begun to denounce the Thai military regime and threaten to boycott Thai tourism and #SaveRahaf has become one of the hottest hashtags on Twitter.

Elaine Pearson, Australia director for Human Rights Watch, tweeted to say, “Thailand’s reputation as a idyllic holiday destination is on the line. Thailand shouldn’t become equally famous for colluding with authoritarian regimes, detaining people at Bangkok airport & forcibly returning them to situations of torture/violence/jail. #SaveRahaf #SaveHakeem.”

A Bangkok-based expat Tom Touhy replied, “Fully agree. Thai tourism has already taken a big hit this year with the Phuket boat disaster that killed 47 Chinese citizens. Now it’s time for Thailand to show it cares about others especially a young woman trapped in a Bangkok in fear of her life if sent back to Saudi.”

I would need a lot more space to show all the other activities online and off from the multitudes of people who pressured the military regime and helped rescued Rahaf. An earlier defender was Germany’s new ambassador to Thailand, Georg Scmidt, who tweeted his concern about Rahaf and intervened Monday morning. Despite normally attracting no more than 10 retweets, the ambassador’s message from his official account @GermanAmbTHA was retweeted 1,416 times.

Other embassies working behind the scene included Canada, the Netherlands and the EU mission in Bangkok.

In the end, the fact that Saudi charge d’ affaires Abdullh al-Shuaibi later told the Thai immigration police on Wednesday that perhaps the Thai police should have confiscated Rahaf’s mobile phone instead, speaks volume about her lucky escape and the Twitter storm and forced both the Saudi and Thai authorities to back down.

Despite junta No. 2 leader Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan suggesting Monday that Rahaf would be sent back, the situation had changed by early afternoon and Thai immigration police chief Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn managed a belated face-saving effort by declaring that Thailand, as the Land of Smiles, would not “send someone to their death.”

This was just hours before immigration police prevented reporters and even a human rights commissioner from seeing Rahaf. Caretaker human rights commissioner Angkhana Neelapaijit told this writer that immigration police claimed they has no jurisdiction over the matter and could do nothing to save Rahaf. This despite having been the ones to cordon off the hotel room.

I wish Rahaf well with her new life in Canada, where belief, or the lack thereof, is not a crime.

As she left Bangkok en route to Canada, she tweeted:

“I would like to thank you people for supporting me and saiving my life. Truly I have never dreamed of this love and support. You are the spark that would motivate me to be a better person.”

As of Friday afternoon, Rahaf enjoys more than 134,000 followers on Twitter. With her new found influence and fame, I hope she eventually plays a role for the rights for women in Saudi Arabia, the Arab world and beyond and helps save others, both men and women, as well.

Many are still in similar predicaments.

While Rahaf came and went, Hakeem Alaraibi, a Bahraini football player, remains in a Bangkok prison after being arrested at the same airport late last year on his way back to Australia from his honeymoon, despite holding valid refugee status. #SaveHakeem is a different and long story worthy of another column though.

Saudi Runaway Rahaf Leaves For Canada, Thanks World For ‘Saving My Life’

By

Associated Press

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12 January 2019, 10:15

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, at right, walks with an unidentified woman Friday in Bangkok. Photo: Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press

BANGKOK — An 18-year-old Saudi woman who said she was abused by her family and feared for her life if deported back home left Thailand on Friday night for Canada, which has granted her asylum, officials said.

The fast-moving developments capped an eventful week for Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun. She fled her family while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in an airport hotel to avoid deportation and grabbed global attention by mounting a social media campaign for asylum.

“I would like to thank you people for supporting me and saiving [sic] my life,” she tweeted early Saturday morning. “You are the spark that would motivate me to be a better person.”

Her case highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, where several women fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many similar cases go unreported.

https://twitter.com/rahaf84427714/status/1083845215348129792

Alqunun is flying to Toronto via Seoul, South Korea, according to Thai immigration Police Chief Surachate Hakparn. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed his country had granted her asylum.

“That is something that we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights and to stand up for woman’s rights around the world and I can confirm that we have accepted the U.N.’s request,” Trudeau said.

Several other countries, including Australia, had been in talks with the U.N.’s refugee agency to accept Alqunun, Surachate said earlier in the day.

“She chose Canada. It’s her personal decision,” he said.

Canada’s ambassador had seen her off at the airport, Surachate said, adding that she looked happy and healthy.

She thanked everyone for helping her, he said, and added that the first thing she would do upon arrival in Canada would be to start learning the language. She already speaks more than passable English, in addition to Arabic.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed Canada’s decision.

“The quick actions over the past week of the government of Thailand in providing temporary refuge and facilitating refugee status determination by UNHCR, and of the government of Canada in offering emergency resettlement to Ms. Alqunun and arranging her travel were key to the successful resolution of this case,” the agency said in a statement.

It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted Alqunon to choose Canada over Australia. Australian media reported that UNHCR had withdrawn its referral for Alqunon to be resettled in Australia because Canberra was taking too long to decide on her asylum.

UNHCR officials were not immediately available for comment. Australia’s Education Minister Dan Tehan said Saturday that Australia had moved quickly to process her case but Canada decided to take her in. He added that, ultimately, the outcome was a good one. “She’s going to be safe,” he said.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, cited Alqunun’s “courage and perseverance.”

“This is so much a victory for everyone who cares about respecting and promoting women’s rights, valuing the independence of youth to forge their own way, and demanding governments operate in the light and not darkness,” he said in a statement.

Alqunun was stopped Jan. 5 at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport by immigration police who denied her entry and seized her passport.

She barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and took her plight onto social media. It got enough public and diplomatic support that Thai officials admitted her temporarily under the protection of U.N. officials, who granted her refugee status Wednesday.

Alqunun’s father arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, but his daughter refused to meet with him. Surachate said the father — whose name has not been released — denied physically abusing Alqunun or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, which were among the reasons she gave for her flight. He said Alqunun’s father wanted his daughter back but respected her decision.

“He has 10 children. He said the daughter might feel neglected sometimes,” Surachate said.

Canada’s decision to grant her asylum could further upset the country’s relations with Saudi Arabia.

In August, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador to the kingdom and withdrew its own ambassador after Canada’s Foreign Ministry tweeted support for women’s right activists who had been arrested. The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and ordered their citizens studying in Canada to leave.

No country, including the U.S., spoke out publicly in support of Canada in that spat with the Saudis.

On Friday, Trudeau avoided answering a question about what the case would mean for relations with the kingdom, but he said Canada will always unequivocally stand up for human rights and women’s rights around the world.

Canadian officials were reluctant to comment further until she landed safely in Canada.

Alqunun had previously said on Twitter that she wanted to seek refuge in Australia.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne met Thursday with senior Thai officials in Bangkok. She later said Australia was assessing Alqunun’s resettlement request.

Payne said she also raised Australia’s concerns with Thai officials about Hakeem al-Araibi, a 25-year-old former member of Bahrain’s national soccer team who was granted refugee status in Australia in 2017 after fleeing his homeland, where he said he was persecuted and tortured.

He was arrested while vacationing in Thailand in November due to an Interpol notice in which Bahrain sought his custody after he was sentenced in absentia in 2014 to 10 years in prison for allegedly vandalizing a police station — a charge he denies. Bahrain is seeking his extradition.

Al-Araibi’s case is being considered by Thailand’s justice system, she said.

Story: Tassanee Vejpongas, Rob Gillies

Family Alleges Foul Play in Phuket Death of British CEO

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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11 January 2019, 17:16

Attorney Vincent McOwen holds up a photo of Steven James Granville on Friday at the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — Nearly six years after police wrote off injuries sustained by a British resort owner as a bike accident, his family came forward Friday to insist it was murder, now that he is dead.

A lawyer representing the family of Steven James Granville filed a complaint at the Technology Crime Suppression Division over the police conclusion that the death was an accident. Vincent McOwen said they were coming forward now as Granville has died after being brain dead over four years in a UK hospital.

“We are here today to ask for a full and fair investigation,” McOwen said. “It is an ongoing case but we are hearing nothing back. We are getting no feedback.”

Granville opened Puravarna Resort, a 800-million-baht project set on 113 rai of land, in 2000. He was sentenced to jail for over a year for fraud in 2010.

The lawyer asked police to investigate two former partners of Granville’s who were involved in another project in 2012. He alleged the pair asked Granville to transfer 99 percent of Puravarna Resort’s shares – worth over 1 billion baht – reasoning that his criminal record could affect the project. According to McOwen, the siblings promised to return the shares within six months if a deal wasn’t forthcoming.

Less than three months after the shares were allegedly transferred, on June 24, 2013, Granville was seriously injured. McOwen said the only injury found was blunt force trauma to Granville’s head, with no wounds elsewhere on his body. Police ruled it a cycling accident.

With a fourth of his brain heavily damaged, Granville was unable to function and spent four years in hospital bed rest before dying at 52 last year.

“He was transferred back to England, where was he was brain dead. This was not an accident. He suffered for four and a half years,” McOwen said.

McOwen, 50, said Granville’s family suspected foul play despite the conclusion of Karon police and has lost 15 million baht in a losing legal battle to get back their property shares back.

Brew Bandits: Crowd ‘Cleans Up’ 80,000 Cans of Leo on Phuket

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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11 January 2019, 16:52

People pick up beer cans that fell from an overturned truck Friday in Phuket City. Photo: Mana Sombat / Facebook

PHUKET — When a truck carrying nearly 90,000 cans of Leo Beer flipped Friday morning in Phuket City, men, women, children and even motorcycle taxis rushed in to lend a hand.

Several hours later, the transport company went to the police with a small complaint: 80,000 cans – 94 percent of the beer – were unaccounted for. The company suspects that 2-million-baht worth of beer was stolen by “Good Samaritans” following the accident.

Police said they will press charges against individuals seen snagging the beer after pictures and video clips of people scooping up armloads of Leo beer from the road were shared online Friday morning.

Sirimongkol Logistics, the transport company, said the truck was carrying about 86,400 cans of beer, and up to 81,600 cans were missing.

Somporn Primjaras, the truck’s driver, told police that he was making turning at about 40kph when the truck tipped and fell onto its side due to the weight of its load.

The case was shared on Facebook by user Mana Sombat, who posted several pictures and clips of people collecting cans from the scene of accident with captions “Look at what they’re doing at the entrance of Soi King Kaew (people here were drunk since this morning).” Most comments condemned the action.

Phuket City’s police chief said the pictures and videos provided enough evidence for them to find the beer pirates, adding that the driver would also be charged for causing property damage.

Thailand Pushing Hard for BRN to Join Southern Peace Talks

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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11 January 2019, 16:28

Thailand's chief negotiator Gen. Udomchai Thamsarorat speaks Friday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.

BANGKOK — Fresh attempts to open dialogue with separatists in the Deep South will include the most hard-line group for the first time, the new chief negotiator said Friday.

Gen. Udomchai Thamsarorat confirmed, albeit indirectly, that the National Revolutionary Front, or BRN, would be part of future multilateral discussions which in over six years have failed to defuse secessionist violence that has convulsed since 2004.

“This dialogue will include every armed group,” Udomchai said to the more than 100 reporters gathered at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand when asked whether he would reach out to the BRN. “We will talk to each group separately.”

Pressed whether that meant the BRN, the former southern army chief replied, “You call them BRN but I would use the term ‘every armed group.’”

Whether BRN has committed to the talks or Udomchai was being optimistic remains to be seen. Malaysia has tried to help bring them join talks, but according to Malaysian media, had yet to make any commitment as of last week, when the two negotiators met for the first time. That same day, the BRN celebrated the 15th anniversary of its armed insurrection by releasing a video.

“Dear people of Malay Patani, if we are still strong, it is not wrong for us to continue until we win. If the peace effort by Siam is true, we can make peace. But if the peace effort is only to trick us, then we will fight,” Benarnews reported BRN spokesman Abdul Karim Khalib saying in the video.

Speaking today, Udomchai, who has replaced Gen. Aksara Kerdphol as head of the Thai negotiating team, repeated what has been the central sticking point adopted by all previous government efforts: The question of independence will not be touched.

“The dialogue must take place within the framework of the constitution,” which outlaws secession, the 65-year-old said, though he added that the insurgents are welcome to run in elections and promote their agendas through legal means.

“Come enter the process!” the soft-spoken Udomchai said in an abrupt flare of passion. “Run in elections! Why don’t they send people to be politicians and amend the constitution?”

He also insisted that the talks will not be considered formal negotiations. A ceasefire will not be discussed, and talks will mostly take place in secret away from public ears so that “everyone involved can let it out freely.”

A number of armed groups are seeking independence for the three southernmost provinces with the goal of reviving the sultanate of Patani, a kingdom annexed by Bangkok a century ago.

The BRN is believed to be the most powerful among them. The cell has been blamed for various attacks on security forces and civilians. Udomchai estimated that at least 5,800 people have been killed since the insurgency erupted 15 years ago.

Although the Thai authorities initiated dialogue in 2013, the effort has not included the BRN, who has reportedly refused to talk. Experts have lamented the dialogue as meaning little without its participation.

Udomchai is a former commander of the army’s 4th Region, which covers the southern region. He also serves as a junta-appointed legislator.

His appointment to the job in October coincided with Malaysia’s naming of Abdul Rahim Noor – a close ally of PM Mahathir Mohamad – as Udomchai’s counterpart.

Udomchai said he has already talked with Noor about their missions. Malaysia’s secret service is willing to coordinate with separatists residing there to bring them to the table, he said.

Canada, Australia Willing to Accept Saudi Woman: Thai Police

By

Associated Press

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11 January 2019, 16:23

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, right, on Friday walks with an unidentified companion in Bangkok. Photo: Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press

BANGKOK — Several countries including Canada and Australia are in talks with the U.N. refugee agency to accept a Saudi asylum seeker who fled alleged abuse from her family, Thai police said Friday.

Thailand’s immigration police chief, Surachate Hakparn, told reporters the U.N. was accelerating the case, though he gave no indication of when the process would be complete.

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun was stopped at a Bangkok airport on Saturday by Thai immigration police who denied her entry and seized her passport. While barricading herself in an airport hotel room, the 18-year-old launched a social media campaign that drew global attention to her case and enough public and diplomatic support to convince Thai officials to admit her temporarily under the protection of U.N. officials.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees eventually granted her refugee status on Wednesday.

Alqunun’s case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many similar cases have gone unreported.

Alqunun has said on her Twitter account that she wishes to seek refuge in Australia.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne met with senior Thai officials in Bangkok on Thursday. She later told reporters that Australia assessing Alqunun’s request for resettlement, but there was no specific timeframe.

Payne said she also raised Australia’s concerns with Thai officials about Hakeem Al-araibi, a 25-year-old former member of Bahrain’s national soccer team, who was granted refugee status in Australia in 2017 after fleeing his homeland, where he said he was persecuted and tortured.

Hakeem’s case is being considered by Thailand’s justice system, she said.

Myanmar Court Rejects Appeal of Jailed Reuters Reporters

By

Associated Press

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11 January 2019, 16:16

FILE - In this combination file image made from two photos, Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo, left, and Wa Lone, are handcuffed as they are escorted by police out of the court in Yangon, Myanmar Sept. 3, 2018. Photo: Thein Zaw, File / Associated Press

YANGON — A court in Myanmar on Friday rejected the appeal of two Reuters journalists convicted of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act during their reporting on the country’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, maintaining the seven-year prison terms they were sentenced to last year.

Judge Aung Naing of the Yangon High Court said in his ruling that lawyers for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo failed to submit enough evidence to prove they were innocent. Neither man was in court for the ruling.

The conviction of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo has drawn condemnation from rights groups, Western governments and global press associations and has raised questions about press freedom in Myanmar as it transitions from decades of military rule.

Although the military has kept control of several key ministries, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise to heading the government had raised hopes for more democratic freedoms.

“Today’s ruling is yet another injustice among many inflicted upon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo,” Reuters Editor-In-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement Friday. “They remain behind bars for one reason: Those in power sought to silence the truth. Reporting is not a crime, and until Myanmar rights this terrible wrong, the press in Myanmar is not free, and Myanmar’s commitment to rule of law and democracy remains in doubt.”

The two journalists were convicted of violating the colonial era Official Secrets Act after they were found with government documents in their possession. They were arrested on Dec. 12, 2017, in the country’s main city, Yangon, immediately after having a meal to which police officers had invited them.

One police officer, despite being called as a prosecution witness, testified that his superiors had ordered the men to be entrapped with documents planted on them. The officer, Capt. Moe Yan Naing was dropped from the force after his testimony and jailed for a year for breaking police regulations.

Supporters of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo contend they were framed because of official displeasure over their reporting on the brutal crackdown by security forces on minority Rohingya in Rakhine state.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh following a crackdown that began in August 2017. Critics have described the campaign as ethnic cleansing, or even genocide, on the part of Myanmar security forces.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had worked on one of the most detailed accounts of official abuses, an investigation of the killing of 10 Rohingya villagers in Inn Din village, for which seven soldiers were eventually sentenced to up to 10 years in prison with hard labor.

European Union ambassador to Myanmar Kristian Schmidt, who also was at court, described the ruling as “a great disappointment and a missed opportunity to correct a wrong that has been committed against the two journalists.”

“It casts serious doubts on the independence of the judiciary of Myanmar and for people’s right to information and learning the truth,” he said.

He called for Myanmar’s president to have the journalists released immediately and unconditionally.

Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife, Chit Su, said the ruling came as a surprise.

“We thought that they would be free today,” she said. “We were expecting to welcome them in front of Insein Prison.”

“I still believe that they will be free,” she added.

Lawyers for the men had previously said that if their appeal failed, they would have to hope for a pardon or general amnesty to obtain an early release.

One of them, Than Zaw Aung, told reporters Friday there were still two or three more steps they could take in the courts, involving appeals, and they have 60 days to make a submission to the country’s Supreme Court.

The reporters’ work and stand for freedom of the press have earned them awards and plaudits. Most notably, they were among a group of journalists honored by Time magazine as “Person of the Year.” The cover of some editions of the magazine showed their wives holding photos of the two.

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