Hanoi: Myanmar government leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday said two jailed Reuters journalists can appeal their seven-year sentence, and that their jailing had nothing to do with freedom of expression.

‘I wonder whether very many people have actually read the summary of the judgement which had nothing to do with freedom of expression at all, it had to do with an Official Secrets Act,’ Suu Kyi said at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi in response to a question from the forum moderator.

‘If we believe in the rule of law, they have every right to appeal the judgment and to point out why the judgement was wrong.’

There has been international condemnation of the jailing of two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 after they were found guilty of breaching a law on state secrets.