Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was sentenced to 11 years in prison with hard labor after finding him guilty on several charges, including incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information. He also found guilty of contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations, lawyer Than Zaw Aung said.
Journalism is becoming a steadily more dangerous profession around the world, including in the United States. The year 2020, with its global pandemic and widespread social unrest, continued the trend. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual survey, more journalists were in prison on Dec. 1 — 274 — than in any previous year.
At least 250 journalists were in jail in relation to their work as of Dec. 1, nonprofit group the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday, naming China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt the biggest jailers of journalists. The group found that the majority were imprisoned on “anti-state charges.”
