American journalist Danny Fenster has received an 11-year prison sentence in Myanmar after a court found him guilty on numerous charges, including incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information.
The former managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, Fenster, has been in custody since May when he was detained at Yangon International Airport to board a flight to the United States.
“Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family,” Editor-in-Chief Thomas Kean said in a statement, per Huff Post.
Fenster has two additional charges in a different court. So there’s the possibility of more added time to his sentence.
“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,” the statement from Frontier Myanmar said.
“There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges. 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.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
This reminds me of Jason Rezaian of Washington Post as well as so many others. I hope it will have a happy ending. Hopefully he can return home soon.