appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agencies

American journalist Danny Fenster, sentenced only days ago to 11 years hard labour in Myanmar, has been freed and is on his way home, former US Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson said on Monday.
Fenster was “pardoned” before his release on “humanitarian grounds” following negotiations with Richardson and two Japanese envoys, said Myanmar’s junta.
Richardson said Fenster had been handed over to him in Myanmar and would return to the US via Qatar over the next day and a half.
The family expressed their relief at Fenster’s release.

“We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home, we cannot wait to hold him in our arms,” they said, thanking Richardson for his help.
“This is the day that you hope will come when you do this work,” Richardson said. “We are so grateful that Danny will finally be able to reconnect with his loved ones, who have been advocating for him all this time, against immense odds.”


“We are relieved that Danny is finally out of prison, somewhere he never should have been in the first place,” said Fenster’s boss, Frontier Myanmar’s editor-in-chief Thomas Kean. “The Frontier team would like to thank all of those who worked to secure Danny’s release over the past five-and-a-half months.”
He called on Myanmar’s military rulers to release all journalists still behind bars. “Danny is one of many journalists in Myanmar who have been unjustly arrested simply for doing their job since the February coup,” he said.
Fenster, 37, managing editor of the online magazine, was convicted on Friday of spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organisations and violating visa regulations.

His sentence was the harshest punishment yet among the seven journalists known to have been convicted since the military took power.
Myanmar sentences US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in jail
The US welcomed his release, saying he had been “wrongfully detained.”
Richardson said he negotiated Fenster’s release during a recent visit to Myanmar when he held face-to-face meetings with General Min Aung Hlaing, the military leader who ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February.

Richardson has a record of acting as a sort of freelance diplomat. He is best known for travelling to nations with which Washington has poor, if any, relations, such as North Korea, to obtain the freedom of detained Americans.
He has a long history of involvement with Myanmar, starting in 1994 when as a member of US Congress he met Suu Kyi at her home, where she had been under house arrest since 1989 under a previous military government.

In an interview after his most recent visit to Myanmar, Richardson had said his talks there had focused on facilitating humanitarian help to the country, particularly Covid-19 vaccines.
Fenster spent 176 days in jail.

He was due to go on trial again on November 16 on charges of terrorism and sedition, which could have seen him jailed for life.
Fenster was arrested while trying to leave Myanmar in May, a country in chaos since the February 1 military coup.
He was the first Western journalist sentenced to prison in recent years in Myanmar, where the coup against the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi ended a decade of tentative steps towards democracy and triggered nationwide protests.
The military has arrested dozens of journalists among thousands detained after protests erupted nationwide.
According to estimates by the prisoners’ aid organisation AAPP, at least 1,250 people have been killed and more than 10,000 arrested since the coup.


US House foreign affairs chair warns AI sales to China could make America a ‘loser’

Woman dies after falling into uncovered manhole in New York

Putin is pushing for a blockbuster oil and gas deal in China. Will he get it?

US charges 7 Chinese executives and 4 shipping firms linked to container cartel

United States

American journalist Danny Fenster freed from Myanmar prison and deported 3 days after given 11-year sentence

US journalist Danny Fenster (third from right) at Naypyidaw International Airport in Myanmar. Fenster, imprisoned in Myanmar since May, has been released from prison days after being sentenced to 11 years. Photo: Myanmar military via AFP

Bryan Fenster, brother of American journalist Danny Fenster, who was freed on Monday after spending nearly six months in jail in military-ruled Myanmar, speaks to the media outside his home on November 15, 2021 in Huntington Woods, Michigan. - US journalist Danny Fenster was 'pardoned' before being deported from Myanmar where he had been recently sentenced to 11 years in jail and was due to face further terror and sedition charges, the junta said Monday. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP)

FILE - This photo provided by the family courtesy shows Danny Fenster posing for a photo in Yangon, Myanmar, in 2020. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson said Monday, Nov. 15, 2021, American journalist Fenster has been released from prison in Myanmar. (family courtesy photo via AP, File)

FILE - U.S. journalist Danny Fenster works out of his van that he made into a home/office in Detroit in 2018. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson said Monday, Nov. 15, 2021, American journalist Fenster has been released from prison in Myanmar.(Fenster Family photo via AP, File)

This handout photograph taken and released by the Richardson Center on November 15, 2021 shows US journalist Danny Fenster (L) posing for a photo with former US diplomat Bill Richardson next to an airplane on the tarmac at Naypyidaw International Airport in Naypyidaw. - A US journalist imprisoned in Myanmar since May has been released and deported from the country days after being sentenced to 11 years in jail, officials told AFP on November 15. (Photo by Handout / Richardson Center / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Richardson Center " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

FILE - In this image from video, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson speaks to the Associated Press via Zoom video from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA on Nov. 8, 2021. Richardson said in a statement Monday, Nov. 15, 2021, that American journalist Danny Fenster had been released from prison and handed over to him in Myanmar and would be soon on his way home via Qatar.(AP Photo/File)

US journalist Danny Fenster detained in Myanmar after trying to fly to Malaysia

Demonstrators march during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay. Photo: EPA

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 15, 2018 UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener arrives at Sittwe airport after visiting Maung Daw Township at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area in Rakhine State. - The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, said May 24, 2021 she still hopes to visit the country after seven weeks spent in the region waiting for the junta that staged a coup in February to allow her in. (Photo by STR / AFP)

Family vows to win freedom of US journalist imprisoned in Myanmar for 100 days

American journalist Danny Fenster (right) with his parents Buddy and Rose in Huntington Woods, Michigan. Photo: Courtesy of the Fenster Family / AFP

(FILES) This file undated image received on June 4, 2021 Courtesy of the Fenster Family shows US journalist Danny Fenster. - The family of US journalist Danny Fenster appealed on August 31, 2021 for his release by Myanmar authorities as they marked his 100th day of imprisonment by the Yangon military regime. Fenster is believed to have contracted Covid-19 during his detention, family members said during a conference call with American journalists. (Photo by - / Fenster Family / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Courtesy of the Fenster Family" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

News

Asia

Diplomacy

Southeast Asia

World

United States & Canada


Managing editor of Frontier Myanmar deported after ‘pardon’ by junta following ‘US, Japan negotiations’ for his release
Fenster, sentenced last week, was due to face more charges that could have seen him jailed for life



Managing editor of Frontier Myanmar deported after ‘pardon’ by junta following ‘US, Japan negotiations’ for his release.


Myanmar

Myanmar's democratic transition