December 29, 2017•Update: December 29, 2017
By Sena Guler
ANKARA
Journalists working for Turkish state TV were released Thursday just short of serving out their two-month prison sentence in Myanmar, the channel announced Friday.
Lau Hon Meng and Mok Choy Lin, journalists for English-language news channel TRT World, were jailed on Nov. 10 after an Oct. 27 arrest for possessing an aerial drone.
According to TRT World’s website, a Myanmar court on Thursday dropped additional charges against the pair and their local freelance translator Aung Naing Soe and driver Hla Tin ahead of the release of all four.
Their release had been scheduled for Jan. 5, the channel added.
In a statement at the time of the arrests, TRT World said Myanmar's Information Ministry had been previously informed about the crew’s filming plans.
The two TRT staffers arrived in Yangon on Oct. 21 on journalist visas, TRT and used the drone at various locations before their arrest.
Meanwhile, in a statement, TRT Director-General Ibrahim Eren said: “Our efforts have worked and our friends were released.”
He said Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag and the Turkish Foreign Ministry had helped secure their freedom.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag welcomed the release of TRT World journalists. "TRT World will continue to be the true voice of people living all over the world as before, and will continue to transmit news all over the world."
Bozdag praised the journalists “who were arrested while working under the most difficult conditions to picture the injustices in Myanmar correctly and objectively to the whole world."
On Wednesday, the detention of two Reuters journalists arrested on Dec. 12 for violating state secrets was extended and a trial date set for Jan. 10.
