Irrawaddy-Oct 19
Myanmar’s military regime has arrested six foreigners since the military coup last year. The six were arrested for having connections to the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government or journalists covering anti-regime protests. Only three have been released while the rest remain in junta jails. The following is a list of who they are, when and where they were arrested. Australian economist Sean Turnell had worked as an economic advisor to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government since 2017. He was the first foreigner to be detained after the coup. The 58-year-old economist is currently being held in Insein Prison in Yangon. Polish journalist Robert Bociaga was detained by junta security personnel while documenting an anti-coup protest in Taunggyi in southern Shan State on March 11, 2021. The 30-year-old was allegedly beaten during his arrest and charged under the Immigration Act and fined 200,000 kyats. He was freed on March 22 after 11 days of detention at Taung Lay Lone Prison in Taunggyi. Japanese freelance journalist Yuki Kitazumi was detained in Yangon on April 18, 2021. The 45-year-old was charged on May 3 for spreading ‘fake news’but released from Insein Prison on May 14. He returned to Japan the same day. American journalist Danny Fenster was detained on May 24 at Yangon International Airport on his way back to the US. The 37-year-old managing director of the Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar news magazine was charged with incitement and breaking the Unlawful Association Act and Immigration Act and given 11 years in prison. He was released after more than five months of detention at Insein Prison, following former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson’s intervention and deported on November 15 and flew to the US. Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota was arrested at an anti-coup protest on July 30, 2022. He was charged with incitement and violating the Immigration Act and Electronic Transactions Law. He was handed seven years in prison and on October 12 sentenced to another three years for violating the immigration law. Britain’s former ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman, also known as Daw Ohmar Khin, and her husband Ko Htein Lin, a renowned artist and former political prisoner, were detained on August 24 this year at their house in Yangon. The arrest came after the British government had downgraded its relationship with Myanmar’s military regime. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/how-myanmars-junta-threw-six-foreigners-behind-bars.html
