Myanmar jails American journalist for 11 years

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Friday sentenced an American journalist to 11 years in jail, his employer said.

Danny Fenster, the managing editor of Yangon-based magazine Frontier Myanmar, was convicted of incitement and violating unlawful association and immigration laws, according to his magazine.

Fenster, 37, was arrested at Yangon International Airport on May 24 while trying to leave for the US, with the Myanmar military accusing him of working for Myanmar Now, another news outlet headquartered in Yangon.

His trial was held at Yangon’s Insein Prison and was closed to the public, Frontier Myanmar said in a statement, describing the verdict as “the harshest possible under the law.”

“Danny resigned from Myanmar Now in July 2020 and joined Frontier the following month, so by his arrest in May 2021 he had been working with Frontier for nine months,” the magazine said.

“The court disregarded a significant amount of evidence of his employment at Frontier, including tax and social security records and testimony from a Frontier employee.”

Thomas Kean, the magazine’s chief editor, stressed that the court had “absolutely no basis” to convict Fester.

“His legal team clearly demonstrated to the court that he had resigned from Myanmar Now and was working for Frontier from the middle of last year,” he said.

The Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, detained dozens of journalists after protests erupted throughout the country against the Feb. 1 coup.

According to a local monitoring group, the junta has also killed more than 1,200 civilians since it seized power.

Fester will also face “two additional charges, under the Counter-Terrorism Law and section 124(a) of the Penal Code, that will be heard separately,” read the Frontier Myanmar statement.