BANGKOK: The court in Myanmar on Thursday extended Danny Fenster’s pretrial detention, a US journalist who was employed by the online news magazine at the Southeast Asian nation led by the military captured in May with a punishment for up to three years.
, Fenster, the Editor of the Management of Myanmar Frontier, was detained at Yangon International Airport on May 24.
He tried to take a flight to go to the Detroit area in the United States to see his family.
Fenster lawyer, rather than Zaw Aung, told the Associated Press that the 37-year-old journalist was in good health but seemed to have lost weight at the session Thursday in a special court in the Insein Yangon prison, where he was detained.
He asked his wife to send him medicine and food.
Two consular officials from the US Embassy also attended the hearing, a lawyer said.
The next hearing is scheduled for July 15, but the case will not come to court, because the court has too many cases reserved, he said.
The appearance of the Fenster court came a day after the authorities began the release of around 2,300 prisoners accused of in connection with the protest that erupted after the military overthrew the elected government Aung San Suu Kyi in February.
The new government has tried silencing independent news media by attracting their licenses and by capturing journalists.
Those released include protesters and journalists.
Most are detained at the same cost as fenster.
Because there is no official list of detainee freed and release lasts for several days, the number of journalists who are free is unknown.
Tally, who was not officially stored by journalists Myanmar said about 88 journalists who were arrested after the February military takeover, 49 was released, including 14 on Wednesday.
In June, a court released US journalist Nathan Maung, who was arrested in March while working for Kamayut media, a local online news platform.
The accusation against him was dropped, the case was dismissed and he was deported to the United States.
Detention of Sustainable Myanmar Journalist Junta Danny Fenster is outrageous and unacceptable.
Independent reporting about what happened on the ground in Myanmar should not be considered a crime, Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, said in an email statement.
The authorities must immediately drop all charges against the fenster and allow him to leave the country if it wants to do.
Junta also has to free yourself unconditionally more than 50 Burmese journalists who are still in custody and raise the licensing revocation command imposed on many local media outlets, Robertson said.
Myanmar is also known as the old name, Burma.
Then Zaw Aung said the ference was charged with respect to his work on previous work, as a reporter and copied the editor for Myanmar’s online news site now.
Along with several other media outlets, Myanmar now has a license revoked in early March, prohibiting publishing on any platform.
However, continue to operate online.
Fenster resigned from Myanmar now in July last year and joined the Frontier Myanmar a month later, so it was unclear why he was arrested, his lawyer said.
I don’t know in detail.
What can I say is that he was accused of being a member of Myanmar staff now.
I am not clear whether it concerns the story posted in Myanmar now or not.
The ference family in the United States, led by his parents and brothers Bryan, has gathered support for his release with the website, online petition and contact with their representatives at Congress to maintain pressure on the Myanmar case.
The US government has made a repeat request for media freedom in the release of Myanmar and Fenster.
Ireland Rock Band U2, which has long been interested in the democratic struggle in Myanmar, Wednesday tweeted its support for the release of fenster.
Myanmar Court extends pretrial detention to US journalists
