Myanmar junta jails Japanese journalist three more years for immigration breach

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Toru Kubota jailed for seven years starting last week - Photo: Reuters

YANGON - Myanmar's junta on Wednesday sentenced a Japanese journalist arrested while filming an anti-coup protest to three more years in jail for breaching immigration laws, a diplomatic source told AFP.

Toru Kubota, who was jailed for seven years last week, "was sentenced to three years imprisonment" for violating the country's immigration law, a diplomatic source at Japan's embassy said, citing Kubota's lawyer.

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

Last week, he was sentenced to seven years jail for breaching a law that criminalises spreading information detrimental to state security, peace and tranquility, and for three years for encouraging dissent against the military.

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Those sentences will be served concurrently, the junta has said.

The dissent charge has been widely used by the junta in its crackdown on dissent since seizing power last year.

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Kubota appeared in good health at the hearing on Wednesday, the source said, citing his lawyer.

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

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Myanmar's junta has clamped down on press freedoms, arresting reporters and photographers, as well as revoking broadcasting licences. - AFP