Whereas for years under the rule of the military junta and continuing under a democratically elected government in Burma, journalists face threats of violence and retaliation, especially for those covering military abuses, religious intolerance, and the genocide and crimes against humanity that occurred in Rakhine State; Whereas Reuters, a highly respected worldwide news organization, discovered a mass murder in the village of Inn Din as part of its ongoing reporting on the Burmese military’s campaign against the Rohingya and Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were doing fact-checking and interviewing eyewitnesses to these and other events; Whereas, on December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested by police in a suburb of Yangon and have been in custody to the present; Whereas, on April 20, 2018, a key witness for the prosecution, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, testified that he was ordered by his superiors to trap Wa Lone; Whereas, on September 3, 2018, Yangon Northern District Judge Ye Lwin ruled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents during their investigation into the massacre in Inn Din, and then sentenced them each to 7 years in prison with hard labor; Whereas Secretary of State Pompeo met with Burma’s Foreign Minister, Kyaw Tin at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in August 2018 and called for the immediate release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo; Whereas, on September 4, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence said, Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo should be commended—not imprisoned—for their work exposing human rights violations [and] mass killings. Freedom of religion [and] freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy. ; Whereas Members of Congress, professional journalist organizations, human rights groups, and other distinguished writers from around the world have called on the Burmese authorities to release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from their unjust imprisonment