Myanmar: how Bill Richardson used despot diplomacy to secure US journalist Danny Fenster’s release
- The former US diplomat and his staff frequently act as intermediaries for families of Americans kidnapped, detained or killed abroad
- US journalist Danny Fenster was freed on Monday from an 11-year sentence in Myanmar after Richardson’s ‘private humanitarian mission’
The 37-year-old looked gaunt, with his hair and beard grown longer during captivity, as he emerged from a jet in the Qatari capital Doha with Richardson.
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Myanmar frees American journalist Danny Fenster days after he gets 11-year prison sentence
“I was arrested and held in captivity for no reason … but physically I was healthy,” he told journalists at the airport. “I wasn’t starved or beaten.”
Myanmar’s military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown, which has killed more than 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.
More than 100 journalists have been arrested, according to monitoring group Reporting Asean, which says at least 30 are still in detention.