Let him go: Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi, who was detained and freed in Myanmar in 2021, showing a photo of Kubota, who is believed to have been detained in Myanmar. — Reuters
Authorities detained a Japanese documentary filmmaker after he attended a protest in the city of Yangon on the weekend against recent executions carried out by the military government, activists said.
The activists and Myanmar media reports have identified the Japanese man as Toru Kubota.
Reuters could not independently confirm the activists’ accounts and the media reports and a spokesman for Myanmar’s junta did not answer a telephone call seeking comment.
A Japanese government spokesman in Tokyo said on Monday that a Japanese man had been detained in Myanmar and the government was calling for his release as soon as possible. Japanese officials declined to identify the man.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara told a news conference that the man was in his 20s and had been filming a demonstration on Saturday. The Japanese embassy in Myanmar was pressing for his release, he said.
Dozens of people in Tokyo held a rally outside Japan’s foreign ministry on Sunday in support of Kubota and other detainees in Myanmar.
An activist who attended Saturday’s protest said he saw Kubota at the rally at around 3pm in the Yangon’s South Dagon district and that Kubota had left soon afterwards and headed to a bus station.
“As far as we know, he was the first person arrested. Three others were detained at around 3.30pm at the bus station,” said the activist, who is a leader of the Yangon Democratic Youth Strike organisation.
“We’re worried about their safety,” said the activist, who declined to be identified for security concerns.
Another activist involved in organising the protest, who also declined to be identified, confirmed the arrests.
The Saturday protest was a rare show of defiance in Myanmar’s biggest city after the ruling military announced on Monday last week that it had executed four democracy activists accused of aiding “terror acts”. — Reuters
