crime

Myanmar jails Japanese journalist for 10 years on 2 charges

32 Comments
By GRANT PECK

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32 Comments
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Threaten to withdraw business from Myanmar and this guy will be on the first ana flight back.

14 ( +17 / -3 )

Bring him home.

11 ( +16 / -5 )

It’s sad how armies can come to power, since the very soldiers in the ranks are from the people and families they oppress. Hope one day they get back the injustices back a million fold over.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Lucky he didn’t disappear. If he was Burmese…

7 ( +9 / -2 )

We should stop giving them any business.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Hiro

He is a journalist, not a private citizen taking photos. Your entire assumption is incorrect.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Japan educates the junta's officers at the defense university in Kanagawa and even went so far as to invite the junta's envoy to Abe's tax funded memorial. Will the government intervene and demand the release of their citizens?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Burma's illegal Military Government has no authority or right to jail Japanese journalist Kubota. Nor Aung Sang Suki.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The news article stayes he is a journalist. One would assume he is a reporter for a news media company, which would also be expected to follow and respect international rules. One rule is you dont arrest news photographers for taking photos.

Not in a democracy you wouldnt, but maybe a dictatorship yes certainly.

That is my angle. If I was wrong about him being a real news reporter then I am wrong, but this would also be misleading as a read.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I don't like Myanmar's govt.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The junta is desperate for cash, send them a couple of brown envelops and he will be set free.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

Aside from the tragedy of Kubota's arrest and imprisonment, the single great tragic element is the Japanese Govts unwillingness to do anything of substance.

What exactly is the Japanese Government supposed to do. Myanmar is not in Japan's jurisdiction with regards to law. It is a diplomatic matter and I am sure that diplomat's are working behind the scenes to ensure Kubota's welfare.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The guy had enter in Myanmar with a tourist VISA. He breached the immigration rules and abused the Myanmar immigration system.

There is lots of people from Myanmar citizens rooting in Japan's immigration centers for 10+ years just for a paperwork miss or minor offense.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

We should stop giving them any business.

This is Japanese business we're talking about. It's been happy to do plenty of business over many years in the face of all sorts of human-rights abuses. Not a lot of ethics there.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I read in Japan Times it would be 7 years

It is 7 years and 3 years concurrently.

Toru Kubota was sentenced Wednesday to seven years for violating the electronic transactions law and three years for incitement, said Tetsuo Kitada, deputy chief of mission of the Japanese Embassy. The sentences were to be served concurrently

Some body can't count (wink). concurrently simply means together at the same time the author of the headline has used addition when they shouldn't.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@dbsaiya

Common sense comment.

J-Govt talks and walks human rights for it's citizens when it meets it's political agenda - eg the abductions - but when the situation compromises it's current status, it becomes weasley silent.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Typo Crowd funding

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Aside from the tragedy of Kubota's arrest and imprisonment, the single great tragic element is the Japanese Govts unwillingness to do anything of substance.

J-Inc's buddy-buddy relationship with the fascist military regime reeks.

How sad that a govt will not support it's own citizens who are carrying out critical work because of money.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

What did they expect to happen?

I get wanting to get the scoop and all, but acting like you won’t get nicked in an openly hostile and unstable country will never get my sympathy anymore.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

His friend should start a crows funding campaign to raise money for his release cos the tax payer should not foot the bill.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Stephen ChinOct. 6  08:41 pm JST

Burma's illegal Military Government has no authority or right to jail Japanese journalist Kubota. Nor Aung Sang Suki.

They held a kangaroo court on collaborator ASSK on a bogus charge of 'smuggling in 6 radios'. So do you think they'd be any different with a foreign journalist?

SpeedOct. 7  10:49 am JST

I don't like Myanmar's govt.

I hate it. It's existed years before I was born and even changing all the names in 1989 ('Burma' --- Myanmar, 'Rangoon' --- Yangon, etc.) is just cosmetics for the same totalitarian Tatmadaw dictatorship.

His work has focused on ethnic conflicts, immigrants and refugee issues, including the plight of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. The military is particularly sensitive about the Rohingya issue because international courts are considering whether it committed serious human rights abuses, including genocide, in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign that caused more than 700,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to neighboring Bangladesh for safety.

This is probably the biggest reason/excuse for the 10-year jail sentence. The Tatmadaw are SCARED that word of their genocidal crap will get out. Just like they want to keep their internal ethnic wars against the Shan, Karin, others all out of sight. They have blood on their hands, and they know it!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When in Rome ......

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It’s unfortunate. However, we are ( as always ) only being projected one side of the story. I’m sure he knowingly stepped well over the line and knew it. Obviously, anyone with common sense and integrity should well know your trending on thin ice when visiting some countries- so tree carefully my “pedigree- chums “. Follow the rules while visiting and you’ll likely be ok. Let this be a lesson to would be reports from now. Hopefully he will get released early at least.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

He'll soon be back unless the Myanmar fascist junta enjoy lying under the wheels of the bus.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

@thepersoniamnow, And who employ him as a journalist exactly? Not by Japan. Not by Myanmar. So he is still working for himself. He doesn't have permission or a license from there to do any reporting. Any journalist that suppose to be working for any news channel was suppose to leave months ago. If he didn't leave, then he is a private citizen because he is acting on his own.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

unfortunately he knew what he was getting himself into when going there. 10 years will sure teach him a lesson!

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

@Mark, and why would government spend our tax money to set him free? He knew the risk when he stayed. And he had enough warnings to know that his actions could get him arrested. I don't care really care what kind of noble reasoning he has that got him arrested. I don't think it's our government duty to do anything for him considering he choose this path.

This is the problem with these so called independent citizens who think they can travel into a foreign country and do whatever they want and then expect our government to go save them when things turn bad. Expecting some kind of free get away card. This kind of thinking encourage others to do the same,because they think the government will come to their rescue.

People who does things without communicating and seeking council with the government first and then expect the government to come to the aid is extremely selfish. The conditions to get him free doesn't come cheap.

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

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