Myanmar Breaking News
court and myanmar has sentenced an american journalist to 11 years, in prison on charges brought by the military leadership which seized power in a coup in february danny fenster was convicted on three charges of endangering the reputation of the armed forces and associating with illegal organizations our southeast asia correspondent jonathan head joins us now from neighbouring. thailand jonathan welcome to you tell us more about danny fenster and what he's been found guilty of well. we know the charges because they they're very specific um what we don't know much about is the procedure in court because it was held in secret inside the notorious insane prison yangon where he's been held since he was more or less pulled off a plane about to leave myanmar back in may now. he's one of around 50 journalists who are still in detention uh many burmese journalists of course in detention with far more dim desperate outlooks than his even but this was a pretty shocking sentence because the charges that the military applied to danny fenster related to a news organization it's one of several that are still putting out independent news critical of the military that he actually left uh more than a year and a half ago so uh they this was pointed out to the court that he no longer worked for this organization. therefore the charges had no basis but perhaps not surprisingly given the way in which the courts work and myanmar the judge chose to ignore that and impose this sentence it is a very severe sentence 11 years but then i should say um savage sentences are the norm in myanmar. uh we saw two senior officials from aung san tsuchi's party sentenced to 75 and 90 years uh in the in the past week um essentially just for that for for being associated with her party the party was asked by the coup so we shouldn't be too surprised by the length of the sentence uh and i think we should presume that there will continue to be a great deal of diplomatic activity aimed at getting getting. danny fenster out fairly soon yeah a desperate situation for so many journalists in myanmar as you say diplomatic negotiations ongoing what do we understand the the us is pressing for well they've made it clear that his detention is unacceptable uh what what i think is more of a mystery is what the military government wants to do with this i mean anyone can see that the charges are absurd that the entire legal process that is being used not just against him, but against all dissidents is almost farcical um even by the rather poor standards of court process we tend to see in this region um the us will keep pushing but i think they will probably push in a fairly low-key way in the hope that they can persuade the military to release him as a goodwill. gesture i doubt they give any kind of public concessions you know the us has already been applying more and more sanctions on the military leaders and perhaps uh the military government imagines that you know somehow it can it can get some sort of good out of this it's very hard to see we have to view him as a hostage really, because the charges don't stand up and because it's making me look at the government look so bad presumably the military has its own reasons and i think the diplomacy will continue at a very low level just on his case but remember there are of course thousands of other people who will remain uh incarcerated in myanmar often in really dreadful conditions okay jonathan had in bangkok thank you for the update.
Myanmar Breaking News
court and myanmar has sentenced an american journalist to 11 years, in prison on charges brought by the military leadership which seized power in a coup in february danny fenster was convicted on three charges of endangering the reputation of the armed forces and associating with illegal organizations our southeast asia correspondent jonathan head joins us now from neighbouring. thailand jonathan welcome to you tell us more about danny fenster and what he's been found guilty of well. we know the charges because they they're very specific um what we don't know much about is the procedure in court because it was held in secret inside the notorious insane prison yangon where he's been held since he was more or less pulled off a plane about to leave myanmar back in may now. he's one of around 50 journalists who are still in detention uh many burmese journalists of course in detention with far more dim desperate outlooks than his even but this was a pretty shocking sentence because the charges that the military applied to danny fenster related to a news organization it's one of several that are still putting out independent news critical of the military that he actually left uh more than a year and a half ago so uh they this was pointed out to the court that he no longer worked for this organization. therefore the charges had no basis but perhaps not surprisingly given the way in which the courts work and myanmar the judge chose to ignore that and impose this sentence it is a very severe sentence 11 years but then i should say um savage sentences are the norm in myanmar. uh we saw two senior officials from aung san tsuchi's party sentenced to 75 and 90 years uh in the in the past week um essentially just for that for for being associated with her party the party was asked by the coup so we shouldn't be too surprised by the length of the sentence uh and i think we should presume that there will continue to be a great deal of diplomatic activity aimed at getting getting. danny fenster out fairly soon yeah a desperate situation for so many journalists in myanmar as you say diplomatic negotiations ongoing what do we understand the the us is pressing for well they've made it clear that his detention is unacceptable uh what what i think is more of a mystery is what the military government wants to do with this i mean anyone can see that the charges are absurd that the entire legal process that is being used not just against him, but against all dissidents is almost farcical um even by the rather poor standards of court process we tend to see in this region um the us will keep pushing but i think they will probably push in a fairly low-key way in the hope that they can persuade the military to release him as a goodwill. gesture i doubt they give any kind of public concessions you know the us has already been applying more and more sanctions on the military leaders and perhaps uh the military government imagines that you know somehow it can it can get some sort of good out of this it's very hard to see we have to view him as a hostage really, because the charges don't stand up and because it's making me look at the government look so bad presumably the military has its own reasons and i think the diplomacy will continue at a very low level just on his case but remember there are of course thousands of other people who will remain uh incarcerated in myanmar often in really dreadful conditions okay jonathan had in bangkok thank you for the update.
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