Myanmar court sentences American journalist to 11 years

A Myanmar military court has sentenced American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison.

Fenster was found guilty of “breaching immigration law,” and “encouraging” dissent against the country’s military.

Charges of sedition and terrorism were added to Fenster just last week, they carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Fenster’s trial for sedition and terrorism begins on the coming Tuesday.

Danny Fenster, 37, was the managing editor of an independent magazine, Frontier Myanmar. He was arrested at Yangon airport in May while trying to leave the country to meet his family.

Dozens of other local journalists were also arrested by the military in February after the deadly coup.

Frontier Myanmar has condemned the judgement and believes there to be no justification of the conviction.

Danny Fenster’s trial took place inside the Insein prison, where he has been held since February.

The US has already called on Myanmar to release Danny Fenster as doing journalism is not a crime. The US had placed sanctions on high-ranking Myanmar military officials, and have called for the restoration of an elected government.

Danny’s sentence is seen as a ploy by the military to coerce the US into removing the sanctions on its officials. It is however, unlikely that the US would soften its stance on the military takeover and detaining of independent journalists.

The US is yet to react on the judgement which has made one thing clear, that free speech and journalists are unsafe in Myanmar.

Myanmar Coup

Myanmar’s military took over the country after facing a hefty defeat in the elections.

The military alleged that the winning Party had rigged the elections. The country’s Election Commission however, believed the elections to be fair.

The coup was followed by massive protests, which were followed by a massive crackdown on protesters and journalists labelled as “dissenters.”

Over a 1,000 people have been killed in Myanmar since the deadly February coup, with about 8,000 people detained, charged and/or sentenced.

About 50 journalists are still being held captive in Myanmar. The figure is believed to be much lower than the actual numbers.