Myanmar jails Japanese filmmaker for 10 years: diplomatic source

Myanmar jails Japanese filmmaker for 10 years: diplomatic source

Myanmar's junta has jailed Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota for 10 years
Myanmar's junta has jailed Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota for 10 years. Photo: Philip FONG / AFP/File
Source: AFP

PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!

Myanmar's junta has jailed a Japanese filmmaker for 10 years for encouraging dissent against the military and violating an electronic communications law, a diplomatic source told AFP on Thursday.

The military has clamped down on press freedoms since its coup last year, arresting reporters and photographers as well as revoking broadcasting licences as the country plunged into chaos.

Toru Kubota was sentenced by the court in Yangon's Insein prison on Wednesday, a diplomat at Japan's embassy in Myanmar said, adding that the filmmaker's trial for allegedly violating immigration law was "still continuing".

Kubota, 26, was detained near an anti-government rally in Yangon in July along with two Myanmar citizens.

The court sentenced Kubota to "seven years imprisonment" for breaching an electronic communications law, and three years for encouraging dissent, the source said.

Read also

Freed US citizen, 85, lands in Oman after detention in Iran

The dissent charge carries a maximum three-year jail term and has been widely used in the crackdown on opposition to the coup.

PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see YEN.com.gh News on your News Feed!

The next hearing for the immigration charge would take place next Wednesday, the source added.

A junta spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Kubota had arrived in Myanmar in July and was filming a "documentary featuring a Myanmar person", his friend Yoshitaka Nitta told a press conference in Tokyo in August.

According to a profile on the FilmFreeway website, Kubota has previously made documentaries on Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority and "refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar".

'Slap in the face'

Tokyo is a top donor to Myanmar and has long-standing relations with the country's military.

After the coup, Japan announced it would halt all new aid, though it stopped short of imposing individual sanctions on military and police commanders.

Read also

Ethiopia govt says accepts AU invite to peace talks

Kubota's jailing is a "slap in the face" for Tokyo, said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

"It's time for Japan to stop playing games, and move to support real international sanctions that will squeeze the junta's revenue sources."

In September, Japan's defence ministry said it would halt a training programme for members of Myanmar's military from next year over the junta's executions of pro-democracy activists.

The move came in response to the junta's execution of four political prisoners in July, the country's first use of capital punishment in decades, which sparked international outrage.

Kubota is the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar, after US citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan -- all of whom were later freed and deported.

Fenster, who was held in May last year as he attempted to leave the country, faced a closed-door trial inside Insein on charges of unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules.

Read also

Pro-Russia demonstrators rally in Burkina after coup

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison before being pardoned and deported.

As of March this year, 48 journalists remain in custody across the country, according to the monitoring group Reporting ASEAN.

The military's crackdown on dissent since it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government has left more than 2,300 civilians dead, according to a local monitoring group.

The junta puts the civilian death toll at almost 3,900.

New feature: Сheck out news that is picked for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.