US journo in Myanmar gets 11-year prison term
YANGON: Myanmar junta court on Friday sentenced an American journalist to 11 years in prison on charges of unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules, his employer and lawyer said.
The military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown on dissent, which has killed over 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.
Danny Fenster, who had been working for local outlet Frontier Myanmar for around a year, was arrested in May as he tried to leave the country to see his family. He was sentenced to 11 years for incitement, unlawful association and breaching visa rules, his lawyer Than Zaw Aung told AFP.
His client had not decided whether he would appeal, he added. A junta spokesman did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Fenster, who has been held in Yangon’s Insein prison since he was detained, also faces charges of sedition and terrorism, which could see him jailed for life.
“Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision,” Frontier Myanmar said in a statement.
“We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family.”
Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns said the ruling was “a reprehensible outcome in a case that has been deeply flawed from the start”.
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, 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.
Crisis Group Myanmar senior adviser Richard Horsey described the sentence as “outrageous”. He noted US diplomats were working to get him released.
“It will be resolved through diplomatic channels and hopefully very quickly,” he said.