Jailed Myanmar Reuters reporters to file appeal

Two Myanmar Reuters journalists will file an appeal this week against a seven-year prison sentence linked to reporting on the Rohingya crisis, their defence lawyer said Monday.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were sentenced early September under a hardline state secrets act while investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims during the military's bloody crackdown last year.

Condemnation echoed around the world after what was widely regarded as a sham trial and an effort to silence media scrutiny of the army's campaign against the Rohingya.

Defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told AFP that "everything is ready" for an appeal to be filed before the deadline on Saturday.

Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi refused to intervene during the trial even though her government had the power to drop the charges.

But Myanmar's president - a Suu Kyi proxy - could now pardon the pair.

The appeal process should not affect the request for a presidential pardon, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw added.

However, the High Court is likely to take up to five or six months to rule on the appeal, leaving the reporters in jail.

"I'm quite confident," Khin Maung Zaw said.

"But in our country, nothing is certain. Anything can happen."