Thailand: 'Devastating situation' for press freedom in Myanmar - colleague of jailed US journalist

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A collague of Danny Fenster, a US journalist sentenced to 11 years in prison in Myanmar on Friday, reacted to the news, saying it highlights the “devastating situation” for press freedom in Myanmar, in an interview in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

“most journalists that have remained in the region have had to move over to Thailand like I have, so it’s a really devastating situation right now for press freedom in Myanmar and I think Danny’s case just kind of highlights how bad it’s gotten,” said Andrew Nachemson, a digital editor at Frontier Myanmar, where Fenster worked.

“He was sentenced for the first three charges, one for incitement one for unlawful association one for immigration act violations, he is also facing more serious charges of sedition and treason most of these charges are related to work that he did for another outlet,” Nachemson added, saying the outlet for which Fenster worked until July 2020, Myanmar Now, was banned by the military shortly after the coup.

Thirty-seven-year-old Fenster was arrested while trying to leave Myanmar for the US to return home.

While Fenster’s family is restricted from regular visits, Nachemson suggests only a ‘political settlement’ or a ‘negotiation outside the court’ with Myanmar authorities can guarantee freedom to the American journalist.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Andrew Nachemson, Digital Editor for Frontier Myanmar: “So today he was sentenced for the first three charges, one for incitement one for unlawful association one for immigration act violations, he is also facing more serious charges of sedition and treason most of these charges are related to work that he did for another outlet and they disregarded all of the evidence that was presented in court to show that he has been in fact working for Frontier Myanmar since July 2020 which is when he left Myanmar Now now which is the outlet that he has been accused of continuing to work for which was banned by the military shortly after the coup.”

SOT, Andrew Nachemson, Digital Editor for Frontier Myanmar: “So Frontier is doing our best to support him legally. The US embassy from what I understand is doing their best to work with the family and, you know, try to communicate with the military regime. What we know is that the US has a really bad relationship with the military right now because they’ve kind of led efforts to hold the military accountable for the coup. So that’s been, you know, that’s kind of hampered that relationship made it more difficult to have this kind of conversations. I think we always assumed that this case wasn’t going to be resolved in the courts we don’t have, you know, a ton of faith in the courts to judge this case on the merits so we have always kind of assumed that when he does get out it will be because of some sort of political settlement or negotiation outside of the court.”

SOT, Andrew Nachemson, Digital Editor for Frontier Myanmar: “I mean, in addition to being a wonderful colleague Danny is a very close friend of mine. This entire process had been really draining exhausting heartbreaking and it’s been you know 10 times worse for his family and for his partner so all that we want more than anything is for him to be able to go home and see his family, which is what he was trying to do in the first place. When he was arrested he was boarding a flight to leave Myanmar to go back to the US so that’s all we really want to happen for him to be allowed to leave.”

SOT, Andrew Nachemson, Digital Editor for Frontier Myanmar: “Danny’s always been really passionate about journalism, truth-telling, he is a huge fan of George Orwell who famously spent a lot of time in Myanmar and who wrote a lot about authoritarianism which is something Danny is also very passionate about. He’s also just a really sweet gentle guy like he is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. It’s really a shame that this is happening to him because it really could not happen to a nicer person, but he is also an extremely positive and extremely brave person and I have a lot of faith that, you know, he’ll be able to come out of this and be alright but he shouldn’t have to deal with this it should never have come to this.”

#Myanmar

Video ID: 20211112-043

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