Hanoi: Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has defended the imprisonment of the two Reuters journalists who were given seven-year jail terms after reporting on the Rohingya killings in Rahkine state.

Aung San Suu Kyi insisted their imprisonment was justified and that the case had “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.  She reportedly said that the journalists “were not jailed for being journalists” but for breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Vietnam, she further added: “ There are of course ways in which, with hindsight, I think the situation could have been handled better.”

Point out where there has been a miscarriage of justice, Suu Kyi said.

"The case was held in open court... I don't think anybody has bothered to read the summary of the judge," adding the pair still had the right to appeal.

Her comments drew an immediate response from rights groups who have urged the Nobel Laureate to press for a presidential pardon for the reporters.

The two Reuters jouranlsits, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were originally detained in last December and were each imprisoned for seven years last week for breaching the country's hardline Official Secrets Act while reporting on atrocities committed during the military crackdown in Rakhine state.

The United Nations, in an independent investigation, has called for probe and prosecution of Myanmar military leaders for "genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes" against Rohingya Muslims.

The report also states that the State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not use her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events in Rakhine State.

Rohingyas are a Muslim minority ethnic group in Myanmar and are considered as illegal immigrants. They fled a brutal Myanmar military campaign launched in August last year.

The United Nations had earlier said the scorched-earth operation, which had left hundreds of villages burned to ash in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state, amounted to 'ethnic cleansing'.