BANGKOK: A American journalist was imprisoned for 11 years by a humble, positive and inspired by George Orwell’s writings against authoritarianism, his colleague told AFP, when he faced the second trial for incitement and terrorism.
Myanmar has been a chaos since the military overthrew the Government Aung San Suu Kyi in February and launched a bloody crackdown that has killed more than 1,200 people, according to a local monitoring group, and also ensnared the media.
The Junta war about dissent has seen Myanmar following Saudi Arabia and North Korea in joined journalists – since February only China has imprisoned more, according to unlimited journalists.
Danny Fenster, who has worked for the local Myanmar outlet border for about a year, was arrested in May when he tried to leave the country to see his family.
Last week, the court at Insein Yangon was sentenced to 11 years for associations that violated the law, incitement towards the military and violated visa rules – imposing their lawyers and the US government said baseless.
Danny “has always been one of the most positive people in the room”, Andrew Nachemson, a friend and colleague of fenster in Frontier Myanmar, told AFP.
“He doesn’t need to be the center of attention …
he doesn’t need a ton of credit,” said Nachemson, who left Myanmar in April because of the fear of his own safety.
Fenster likes to work behind the scenes as a border management editor, he said, forming and loving a copy of local journalists who have received respected reputation outlets.
“Everyone who works with it only has the best things to say about him …
he’s really friendly, the extraordinary presence to have in the office.” Both of them became friends for the weekend spent hiking, swimming, and kayaking outside Yangon, where they had moved to cover myanmar’s transition to democratic government.
Even with the economy soaring and the democratic icon of Aung San Suu Kyi was returned to political power, the country was hit by many problems people “did not want to talk about,” Nachemson said.
“Someone like Danny wants to talk about the fact that journalists are still arrested, that Rohingya is still killed,” he said.
“He really cares about the truth and fighting authoritarianism.” Nachemson added ference is a “big fan” of George Orwell’s writings – which was almost a hundred years ago helping the authorities in British Burma with their own brutal police about differences of opinion and making truth.
The arrest of the fenster on May 24 sparked anger among the press freedom groups and raised the fears of Junta back to sensors, intimidation and propaganda during the previous military regime.
The 11-year sentence – After a quick trial in it, Fenster has been detained since May – is “Jarring,” Nachemson said.
“It made frustration because it felt very unfair, and it was scary to think about, you know, ‘What if he really spent 11 years in prison?'” Fenster contact with the outside world has been limited to a visit with his partner with partners and the phone calls with His family.
The only way Nachemson can reach his friend – which is believed to have contracted Covid-19 during his detention – is by letters.
Nachemson said he would not be surprised if the ference was “used as a hostage” by Junta in dealing with the United States, which had imposed sanctions and took the main role in condemning the coup.
Other foreign journalists detained by Junta have been held for a shorter period, including American fellow Nathan Maung who was released in June, two weeks after arresting fenster.
Maung “Surprised” and “angry” when he heard past weekend, he told AFP.
US diplomacy is a factor in his release, said Maung, and there is the same hope that can be done for fenster.
“We hope that some kind of settlement can be achieved,” said Nachemson, even though he added he was not optimistic.
And he was worried that it was getting worse because his friend prepared to be tried because of terrorism and incitement.