Myanmar sentences US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has sentenced US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in jail after finding him guilty on several charges including incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information.

Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was also found guilty of contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations, lawyer Than Zaw Aung said on Friday.

Fenster has been detained since May. 

He still faces two additional charges in a different court for allegedly violating the counterterrorism law and a statute covering treason and sedition.

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Press clampdown

The Southeast Asian country has been mired in chaos since the military ousted the elected government, with the junta trying to crush widespread democracy protests and stamp out dissent.

The military has tightened control over the flow of information, throttling internet access and revoking the licences of local media outlets.

Several journalists critical of the military government were among those released last month in an amnesty to mark a Buddhist festival.

More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the putsch, according to Reporting ASEAN, a monitoring group.

It says 31 are still in detention.

The coup snuffed out the country's short-lived experiment with democracy, with civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi now facing a raft of charges that could see her jailed for decades.

READ MORE: Myanmar military junta sentences Suu Kyi aide to 20 years for treason