Myanmar charges American journalist with terrorism

Myanmar, under military rule has charged an American journalist with sedition and terrorism.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Danny Fenster, 37, was the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar which covered February’s military coup extensively. He worked for the magazine for about a year and was arrested while trying to fly out of the country in May to meet his family.

Fenster has since been held in Yangon’s infamous Insein prison.

Countless other local journalists have also been imprisoned since the February coup. Fenster, already on trial for “encouraging” dissent against the military, and allegedly breaching immigration law is now scheduled to appear on November 16 for the terrorism trial.

As Myanmar’s military initiated an early morning coup, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets and were consequentially arrested.

Over a 1000 people were killed and about 8000 arrested, charged and/or sentenced during the bloody crackdown on dissent.

To further squeeze free speech and dissent, the military targeted independent media and arrested scores of independent journalists.

The US has already urged Myanmar to free Danny Fenster immediately. Fenster’s family is worried about his overall health and wellbeing, since his rights have been taken.

It is unclear if Myanmar’s junta will listen to the calls for his release, and whether normalcy will return to the country.