Japanese filmmaker jailed for 7 years in Myanmar

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – A junta court in Myanmar sentenced a Japanese filmmaker to seven years in jail over “sedition” and “violating a law on electronic communications.”

Toru Kubota was given two sentences – three years for sedition and seven years over electronic communications-related violations – to be served concurrently, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported on Thursday.

Kubota was arrested on July 30.

The military junta said he entered the Buddhist-majority nation from neighboring Thailand using a tourist visa, and that “he was participating in demonstrations and communicating with protesters while filming.” The hearing was held on Wednesday.

The court, set up inside the infamous Insein Prison in Yangon, will hear immigration-related charges against Kubota next Wednesday.

He has also been accused of “falsely reporting” on the persecution of the Rohingya community which the Burmese military has repeatedly attacked and forced to flee the country.

Kubota is the second Japanese citizen to face jail in Myanmar.

Last year in April, freelance journalist Yuki Kitazumi was arrested and indicted for “spreading false news reports.” However, he was released and returned to his home country a month later.

Myanmar, a Southeast Asian nation, is under junta rule since February last year when the country’s military, locally known as Tatmadaw, uprooted National League for Democracy government and jailed its leaders.

It has drawn widespread condemnation.

Myanmar has also faced isolation regionally where the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has denied the junta regime to represent the nation at its summits and related meetings.

Instead, the ASEAN has been inviting “non-political” representatives.

Nada Al-Nashif, UN acting high commissioner for human rights, told the UN Human Rights Council last week that more than 1 million people have been displaced, including 45,500 who have moved to neighboring countries, and “now live in precarious conditions without access to food, medical assistance, and other basic services.”

The ASEAN nations must ramp up efforts for humanitarian support and “promote a resolution to the crisis, in consultation with the people’s representatives, and with support from regional powers,” she said.

She said at least 2,316 people, including 188 children, have been killed in Myanmar since the military seized power in the February 2021 coup.

“Over 15,607 people have been arrested with some 12,464 remaining in detention. The death toll of people in custody is steadily rising. At least 273 persons have died in formal detention settings,” she said.