Two reporters in Myanmar had been investigating violence in Rakhine, from where hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees have fled

Prosecutors in Myanmar have formally charged two journalists from the Reuters news agency with violating the Official Secrets Act, signalling the case will go forward despite international condemnation.

Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested on 12 December after police accused them of violating the British colonial-era law by acquiring “important secret papers” from two policemen. The police officers had worked in Rakhine state, where security forces are blamed for rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims that have sparked the exodus of some 650,000 people to Bangladesh.

The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of the crisis in Rakhine.

Than Zaw Aung, the lawyer for the journalists, said the prosecutor formally indicted the pair at Wednesday’s hearing. They face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.

Than Zaw Aung said he appealed for the two to be immediately released on bail, but the judge said he would review that request and rule at the next hearing on 23 January. “We are still far from the verdict,” he said.

The ministry of information has cited the police as saying they were “arrested for possessing important and secret government documents related to Rakhine state and security forces”.

The ministry said they “illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media”.

The Official Secrets Act dates back to 1923, when Myanmar, then known as Burma, was a province of British India.

The reporters have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some documents at a restaurant by two policemen they had not met before.

Government officials from some of the world’s major nations, including the United States, Britain and Canada, as well as United Nations officials, have called for their release.

Former US president Bill Clinton also urged that they be freed immediately. “A free press is critical to a free society – the detention of journalists anywhere is unacceptable,” Clinton said in a Twitter post on Monday.

Clinton was US president for much of the 1990s when the United States pressed Myanmar’s then military rulers to release democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi won a 2015 election and formed a government in early 2016. She has made no public comment on the detention of the two Reuters reporters. The government has denied that their arrests represent an attack on press freedom and her spokesman has said the case would be handled according to the law.

Human rights group Amnesty International also called for their immediate release and for freedom of speech to be respected.

“These arrests have not happened in a vacuum, but come as authorities are increasingly restricting independent media,” Amnesty International said.

“Journalists and media outlets, in particular those who report on sensitive topics, are living with the constant fear of harassment, intimidation or arrest. This clampdown on freedom of speech must end.”