NAYPYITAW, 15 November 2021, (TON): The UN rights chief called on Myanmar to immediately release all detained media workers after a US journalist was slapped with an 11-year prison sentence.

Michelle Bachelet said in a statement "I urge the military authorities to immediately release all journalists being detained in relation to their work.”

Her comment came after a Myanmar junta court sentenced American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years behind bars on charges of unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules, according to his lawyer.

Fenster, who worked for local outlet Frontier Myanmar, was arrested in May at Yangon airport. He is still awaiting a second trial on charges of sedition and terrorism, which could see him jailed for life.

The statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights decried the "harsh sentence", adding that the "closed door, unfair trial is emblematic of the wider plight of journalists in Myanmar".

The military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown on dissent, which has killed over 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.