Myanmar is under military since the beginning of this year which is imposing its own policies. Today, a Myanmar court sentenced the arrested US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison after he was found guilty on 3 main charges including of breaching immigration law, unlawful association and encouraging dissent against the military and some others.
The 37 years old Fenster was the managing editor of online site Frontier Myanmar who was arrested at Yangon international airport on May 24 when he was going to take a flight to Detroit area in USA. He has now become part of the list of journalists who got detained since the military coup but the only foreign journalist to be convicted of a serious crime.
The military takeover was protested against by the people but they were put down with military force. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners revealed the deaths of more than 1,200 civilians, in addition to about 10,000 arrests. Armed resistance is spreading face, experts think that the insurgency can slide into civil war. The military rule has enacted censorship on press freedom and shut almost all critical outlets and arrested about 100 journalists. But some outlets continued to operate without a license mostly against the rule.
The Frontier stated that Fenster used to work for Myanmar Now, an independent news site that has been critical of the military since the coup.
There are a variety charges against Fenster including allegedly spreading false information, contacting illegal organizations and also violating visa regulation. Two new charges are also filed against him in a different court in Yangon. Lawyer Than Zaw Aung stated that one of the New charges comes under a section of the Counterterrorism Act that can be punished with a detention of about 10 years. The other charge comes under the penal code and is usually referred as treason or sedition and can be punished with a detention of 7 to 20 years. The trial for the new charges will behin on 16th November.
