Ignoring The US Urges, Myanmar Military Regime Sentences Journalist Danny Fenster To 11 Years In Prison

Danny window. (Sumber: bringdannyhome.com)

JAKARTA - The military regime-controlled Myanmar trial sentenced US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison, his lawyer said, a blow to Uncle Sam's efforts to secure his release.

Fenster, 37, managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was found guilty of incitement and unlawful violation of immigration and association laws, his magazine said, describing the sentences handed down as "the harshest by law".

He is the first Western journalist to be jailed in recent years in Myanmar, where the February 1 coup by the military against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi ended a decade of tentative steps towards democracy and sparked a national backlash.

"There is absolutely no basis for convicting Danny of this charge," said Thomas Kean, editor-in-chief of Frontier Myanmar, one of the country's leading independent news outlets.

"Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated by this decision. We just want Danny to be released as quickly as possible so he can return to his family."

Fenster was arrested while trying to leave the country in May. Since then, he has been held in Yangon's notorious Insein prison. Pigak's family has repeatedly called for his release.

He was charged with additional and more serious offenses of sedition and terrorism offenses earlier this week, without explanation by authorities. Each of these charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison

Fenster's verdict has not been announced and a junta spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fenster was among dozens of journalists detained in Myanmar after protests and strikes erupted in the aftermath of the coup, which hampered the military's efforts to consolidate power. The independent media have been accused by the junta of sedition.

Separately, the United States has been pressing for Fenster's release. The US Embassy in Myanmar did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's ruling.

Meanwhile, the US State Department earlier said Fenster's detention was "grossly unfair" and "obvious for the world to see", urging the junta to release him immediately.

Myanmar authorities ignored Fenster in a recent amnesty for hundreds of people detained for anti-junta protests, including several journalists.

Meanwhile, Phil Robertson of New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Twitter that Fenster's imprisonment was "outrageous and unacceptable" and the allegations were fabricated and false.

During nearly half a century of harsh military rule, news reporting was tightly controlled by the state. However, Myanmar's media thrived after the generals introduced tentative reforms in 2011.

Since the February coup, however, the military has revoked media licenses, imposed restrictions on internet and satellite broadcasts, arrested dozens of journalists, in what human rights groups have called an attack on the truth.

More than 1.200 civilians have been killed in the protests and thousands detained since the coup, according to activists cited by the United Nations.

"A lot of things went wrong in this country," Sonny Swe, a journalist, and publisher imprisoned under the previous era of military rule, said on Twitter.

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