Wa Lone
Wa Lone (Burmese: ဝလုံး; born c. 1986) is a Reuters journalist and children's author who, with fellow reporter Kyaw Soe Oo, was arrested on 12 December 2017 in Myanmar because of their investigation into the Inn Din massacre. A police witness testified that their arrest was a case of entrapment. It is believed to have been intended to intimidate journalists.
In this Burmese name, the given name is Wa Lone. There is no family name.
Wa Lone
Pan Ei Mon
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 Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo 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[edit]
Wa Lone was born to a family of rice farmers in the village of Kinpyit, in Shwebo District of Myanmar, north of Mandalay.[6] Around 2004 he moved to Mawlamyine, cleaning and preparing food in exchange for lodging at a Buddhist monastery where his uncle was a monk.[7] In 2010 he and one of his brothers moved to Yangon, Myanmar, where they began a photo service business.[7] He has also been active in volunteer and charity work.[6]
Arrest and imprisonment[edit]
Arrest[edit]
On 12 December 2017, members of Myanmar's police force arrested Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo at a restaurant in Yangon after inviting them to dinner.[13][9]
According to the journalists, they were immediately arrested after being presented documents by policemen they had never met before. The police made no reference to the restaurant meeting in their press releases, stating that the journalists were arrested outside on the outskirts of Yangon.[16] The pair was charged with possessing classified documents in violation of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a possible sentence of 14 years in prison.[17]
Reuters called for their immediate release, insisting that they were arrested for their investigation of the mass grave found at Inn Din, prior to their arrest. After the court's final hearing of their case on 8 February 2018, Reuters released all the findings in their journalists' investigation.[18][19]
Wa Lone has won a number of international awards, including the following:
The following 2018 awards were received jointly with Kyaw Soe Oo:
Children's books[edit]
Wa Lone has written several children's books, which are published in both English and local languages. In 2015, he wrote The Gardener, to promote tolerance, harmony, and care for the environment.[6]
While imprisoned in Insein Prison, Wa Lone has written a children's book, Jay Jay the Journalist, edited by Shwe Mi and illustrated by Kar Gyi. The main character is a young boy with insatiable curiosity who looks for answers when plants and animals in his village start dying. The intention of the books is to "encourage critical thinking in children and introduce them to the profession of journalism."[6]
The book was commissioned and published by Ei Pwint Rhi Zan, director of the Third Story Project. The non-profit's mission is to produce and distribute free books to disadvantaged children in Myanmar.[6] Wa Lone helped to found the non-profit in July 2014.[6][7]
Work on a second Jay Jay book, this time including a strong female protagonist, is underway.[6][70]