Geneva, 17 November 2022: Press Emblem Campaign, the global media safety and rights body, expresses happiness over the release of Japanese journalist-filmmaker Toru Kubota along with 6,000 political prisoners in a mass amnesty. However, it maintains the demand to release all detained and imprisoned journalists by the Myanmar (Burma/Brahmadesh) military junta, led by Min Aung Hlaing, at the earliest.
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The military rulers on Thursday also released three other imprisoned foreigners namely Sean Turnell (an Australian citizen who was economic adviser to former State counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), Vicky Bowman (a former British envoy) and US citizen Kyaw Htay Oo. But even today, over 40 local journalists and 13,000 political prisoners are living behind bars in the southeast Asian country.
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“We had earlier expressed concern over the continued arrest and imprisonment of journalists and human rights defenders in Myanmar following the junta’s notorious electronic transactions law. No less than 140 journalists have been arrested since the military coup in February 2021. The military generals even continue harassing the media persons, who dare to make critical comments against the regime in Naypietaw. By now, a good number of media outlets close their offices and shift to hideouts for their operation,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (www.pressemblem.ch).
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PEC’s south & southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that Japanese media personality Toru Kubota was arrested on 30 July from Yangon and faced 10 years of imprisonment from a military court on 6 October. Toru covered a protest demonstration against the brutal military rulers for international media outlets and he was accused of spreading false information about the Rohingya people. He was made guilty of inciting violence under the new electronic law of Myanmar military dictators.
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(Nava Thakuria is a senior Indian journalist who contributes to various media outlets including print and digital platforms of India and across the world.)
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