Last Updated on: 13th November 2021, 08:35 am
Who is Danny Fenster of US? Biography, Wiki
Danny Fenster is an American journalist who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Myanmar after convicting him on various charges, including inciting the alleged dissemination of false or inflammatory information.
Frontier Myanmar online magazine editor Fenster was also found guilty of contact with criminal organizations and visa violation, said lawyer Than Zaw Aung. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty in each case.
Danny Fenster’s Age
His current age is 37 years.
What Was The Crime?
Fenster has been in custody since May. He faces two more charges in another court for allegedly violating the anti-terrorism law and a law against treason and sedition.
“Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated with this decision. We just want Danny to be released as soon as possible so that he can return to his family,” editor-in-chief Thomas Kean said in a post-conviction statement.
Fenster was arrested at Yangon International Airport on May 24 while he was boarding a flight to the Detroit area in the United States to see his family.
He is the only foreign journalist convicted of a serious crime since the military came to power in February, toppling the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar Court Jailed Him For 11 Years
The army’s takeover was met with widespread peaceful protests, which were crushed with deadly violence. The Association for the Support of Political Prisoners reported the deaths of more than 1,200 civilians and around 10,000 arrests.
Since then, armed resistance has spread and UN experts and other observers fear the uprising will escalate into a civil war.
Despite the testimony of more than a dozen prosecution witnesses, it was never clear what Fenster would have done. Much of the prosecution’s case appeared to hinge on his employment with one of the media outlets, Myanmar Now, which had to close earlier that year.
But Fenster quit his job at Myanmar Now last July and moved to Frontier Myanmar the following month.
“The court ignored a significant amount of evidence proving his employment with Frontier, including tax and social security records and testimony from a Frontier employee,” the Frontier Myanmar statement said.
“There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny on these charges. His legal team made it clear in court that he resigned from Myanmar Now and has been with Frontier since the middle of last year,” he said, citing Kean.
Window’s next challenge relates to the two additional charges that his attorney said were filed in another court in Yangon on Monday.
The hearings on the three original charges were held at the Insein Prison Court in Yangon, where Fenster is being held. They were closed to the press and the public. The record of the trial came from Window’s attorney.
The US government, press freedom groups, and the windows family had lobbied for the 37-year-old journalist’s release.
“We remain deeply concerned about the continued detention of Danny Fenster. He was working as a journalist in Burma when he was arrested,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price said last week, referring to Myanmar’s name before it was changed to a precedent in 1989.
“His incarceration, the incarceration of so many others, is a sad reminder of the persistence of human rights, of the humanitarian crisis in the country of Burma, Burmese, but also foreigners, including Americans, who are in Burma,” Price said written.
“The deeply unjust nature of Danny’s incarceration is apparent to the world, and these accusations only accentuate it. Once again, the regime should take the precaution of releasing him now.”
