Burma Sentences Japanese Journalist to Prison on 2 Charges

Burma Sentences Japanese Journalist to Prison on 2 Charges
Images of Toru Kubota, a Japanese journalist detained in Burma while covering a protest, are displayed at the Japan Press Club in Tokyo on Aug. 3, 2022, as his friends gathered at the club calling for his immediate release. Yuri Kageyama/AP Photo
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BANGKOK—A court in military-ruled Burma (also known as Myanmar) has sentenced a Japanese journalist to serve seven years in prison after he filmed an anti-government protest in July, a Japanese diplomat and the Southeast Asian nation’s government said Thursday.

Toru Kubota was sentenced on 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 are to be served concurrently, meaning that Kubota faces seven years of confinement.