4/26/23, 9:49 PM × Released journalist urges Japan to pressure junta | Frontier Myanmar He said in Tokyo on Monday Japan should “scrutinise very strictly whether such funds are being used by the military, flowing to the military, and whether the funds are essentially being used to kill people”. Japan announced after the coup it would halt all new aid projects, although existing programmes were not affected, and Tokyo has stopped short of imposing sanctions on military and police commanders. The defence ministry said in September it was ending a controversial programme training members of Myanmar’s military. Kubota also urged Tokyo to accept more refugees from Myanmar. Japan is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention but takes in a handful of refugees from conflicts around the world each year. “What we need to think about is how to protect those people who fled authoritarian rule,” Kubota said. He described conditions during his initial detention as “hellish” and said he was held in solitary confinement at the notorious Insein Prison. But he said his release in an amnesty for almost 6,000 prisoners felt like a “propaganda tool”. “It doesn’t change the fact that about 12,000 people are still in detention unduly,” Kubota said. More stories Myanmar migrants suffer abysmal conditions in Thailand’s detention centres In late January, interns at an immigration detention centre in southern Thailand staged a rare protest. They complained about the absymal conditions and demanded to be released. Why is the situation so bad in Thailand's IDCs and why migrants are held in them for so long? Related stories https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/released-journalist-urges-japan-to-pressure-junta/ 2/5