An American journalist in military-ruled Myanmar has been jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of incitement against the military,...
An American journalist in military-ruled Myanmar has been jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of incitement against the military, unlawful association, and breaching visa rules.
Danny Fenster, 37, the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was sentenced in a junta court on Friday, dealing a blow to US efforts to secure his release.
He is the first Western journalist to be jailed in recent years in Myanmar, where a February 1 coup by the military against an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi ended a decade of tentative steps towards democracy and triggered nationwide protests.
US journalist Danny Fenster, 37, (pictured) the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was found guilty of incitement against the military and jailed for 11 years in a junta court in Myanmar on Friday
Fenster was arrested while trying to leave the country in May to see his family and has since been held in Yangon's notorious Insein prison.
He was charged with additional and more serious offences of sedition and violations of the terrorism act earlier this week, without an explanation by authorities.
Those charges are punishable by a maximum 20 years in prison each and could see him jailed for life.
His magazine, Frontier Myanmar, described the sentences as 'the harshest possible under the law'.
'There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges,' said Thomas Kean, editor-in-chief of Frontier Myanmar, one of the country's top independent news outlets.
Fenster was charged with additional and more serious offences of sedition and violations of the terrorism act earlier this week, without an explanation by authorities, which could see him jailed for life (pictured, working out of his van in Detroit in 2018)
'Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family.'
His family has repeatedly called for his release, saying it was 'heartbroken' about his detention.
Fenster's trial had not been made public and a spokesman for the junta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sentencing was based on evidence from the junta-appointed information ministry that showed at the time of his arrest Fenster had been working at local outlet, Myanmar Now, which had its licence revoked shortly after the coup, his lawyer, Than Zaw Aung said.
Fenster's team were barred from cross-examining the ministry's permanent secretary, he said, and the court did not consider tax evidence that Fenster had already left the outlet and was working for Frontier for around a year.
His lawyer said his client had not decided whether he would appeal.
Fenster was arrested while trying to leave the country in May to see his family and has since been held in Yangon's notorious Insein prison while the US embassy attempted to secure his release
The American is among dozens of journalists who were detained in Myanmar after protests and strikes erupted following the coup, hampering the military's efforts to consolidate power. Independent media has been accused by the junta of incitement.
The military has squeezed the press since taking power, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown on dissent, throttling internet access and revoking the licences of local media outlets.
More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the coup, according to Reporting ASEAN, a monitoring group. It says 31 are still in detention.
More than 1,200 civilians have been killed in protests and thousands detained since the coup, according to activists cited by the United Nations.
The United States has been pushing for Fenster's release. The US embassy in Myanmar did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's verdict.
He is the first Western journalist to be jailed in recent years in Myanmar, where a February 1 coup by the military ended a decade of tentative steps towards democracy and triggered nationwide protests (pictured, protest against the military coup on Feb 22)
The State Department had earlier said his detention was 'profoundly unjust' and 'plain for the world to see', urging the junta to release him immediately.
Myanmar authorities overlooked Fenster in a recent amnesty for hundreds of people detained over anti-junta protests, which included some journalists.
During nearly half a century of harsh rule by the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, news reporting was tightly controlled by the state but Myanmar's media blossomed after the a quasi-civilian government introduced tentative reforms from 2011.
Since the February coup, however, the military has rescinded media licenses, imposed curbs on the internet and satellite broadcasts and arrested dozens of journalists, in what human rights groups have called an assault on the truth.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report in July that Myanmar's rulers had effectively criminalised independent journalism.
The American is among dozens of journalists who were detained in Myanmar after protests and strikes erupted following the coup in which more than 1,200 civilians were killed (pictured, anti-coup protesters run around their burning barricade on March 28)
Frontier Myanmar's publisher, Sonny Swe, who spent eight years in prison during the previous era of military rule, announced Fenster's imprisonment on Twitter under the message: 'A lot of things are going so wrong in this country.'
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said Fenster's jailing was outrageous and intended to send warning messages to the media and the United States.
'The junta's rationale for this outrageous, rights abusing sentence is first to shock and intimidate all remaining Burmese journalists inside Myanmar by punishing a foreign journalist this way,' he said.
'The second message is more strategic, focused on sending a message to the U.S. that the Tatmadaw's generals don't appreciate being hit with economic sanctions and can bite back with hostage diplomacy,' he said.
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