Myanmar frees US journalist Danny Fenster days after conviction

He was released to former governor Bill Richardson and the two are en route to the US via Qatar.

2021.11.15

US journalist Danny Fenster (left) and former governor Bill Richardson (right) at the airport in Naypyidaw, Nov. 15, 2021.Richardson Center via AP Photo

Myanmar’s military regime on Monday released American journalist Danny Fenster just three days after he was sentenced to 11 years of hard labor in prison for encouraging resistance to the junta and other alleged crimes.

Fenster, the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was released after nearly six months in jail to former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson, who met with junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing two weeks earlier as part of a humanitarian mission to Myanmar. The two were on their way back to the U.S. via a flight to Qatar early on Monday.

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun confirmed to RFA’s Myanmar Service that Fenster had been freed from Yangon’s Insein Prison and “deported,” although he was unable to explain why the journalist was freed.

“As usual, in this kind of case, he has to be deported. And so, he was released and deported,” the spokesman, adding that the reason for his release and other details “will be announced later.”

A court found Fenster guilty of encouraging resistance to the junta, unlawful association and violating immigration laws on Nov. 12 in a ruling that the U.S. State Department called “an unjust conviction of an innocent person.”

On Monday, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed his release, which he credited Richardson for helping to facilitate.

“We are glad that Danny will soon be reunited with his family as we continue to call for the release of others who remain unjustly imprisoned in Burma,” Blinken said in a statement.

Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico who once served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has a history of serving as a kind of intermediary between the U.S. and nations with whom Washington maintains few or no ties, including North Korea and Venezuela. The U.S. has sanctioned the junta for its use of violence against opponents to its rule and relations are at a low.

On Monday, the Richardson Center released a statement by the former governor in which he said that securing Fenster’s release was the outcome “you hope will come when you do this work.”

“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,” Richardson said.

Fenster’s brother, Bryan Fenster, expressed relief that his sibling had been freed in a tweet that began by noting that Monday marked “Day 176” of the ordeal.

“We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home – we cannot wait to hold him in our arms,” the tweet said.

“We are tremendously grateful to all the people who have helped secure his release, especially @GovRichardson … as well as our friends, family and the public who have expressed their support and stood by our sides as we endured these long and difficult months.”

Journalists targeted

Fenster’s charges were in part based on his former work at Myanmar Now News, which continued to broadcast after the junta ordered it and other outlets to close. But the journalist had stopped working for Frontier Myanmar in July 2020, months before the military seized power in a Feb. 1 coup.

Thirty-four journalists who were arrested in Myanmar following the coup remain in custody following prisoner amnesties that many had hoped would see them freed, sources in the country say.

Many of the reporters who remain jailed have been charged with defaming Myanmar’s military or for suspected ties with the opposition National Unity Government or the local People’s Defense Force militias set up to resist military rule, sources say.

Paris-based RSF ranked Myanmar 140th out of 180 countries in the 2021 edition of its annual World Press Freedom Index and singled out junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing as among the world’s 37 worst leaders in terms of media restrictions.

The country has fallen in position every year since it was ranked 131st in 2017.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Freed US journalist says not 'beaten' in Myanmar jail ordeal


By AFP

November 15, 2021

US journalist Danny Fenster arrives at Hamad International Airport in Qatar's capital Doha on November 15, 2021 after his release from jail in Myanmar - Copyright AFP/File -
Anne LEVASSEUR with Ross ADKIN in Yangon

A US journalist freed from a prison in Myanmar just days after being handed an 11-year sentence said Monday he wasn’t “starved or beaten” — but was worried his ordeal would never end.

Danny Fenster, looking gaunt after his six-month imprisonment, said he was held for no reason but not mistreated by the Myanmar authorities.

The 37-year-old American — who was handed an 11-year sentence last week for incitement, unlawful association and breaching visa rules — was freed one day before he was to face terror and sedition charges that could have seen him jailed for life.

“I was arrested and held in captivity for no reason… but physically I was healthy,” he told journalists after arriving in the Qatari capital Doha. “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 on dissent, which has killed more than 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.

Fenster had been working at Frontier Myanmar, a local outlet in the Southeast Asian country, for around a year and was arrested as he headed home to see his family in May.

“I’m feeling all right physically. It’s just the same privations that come with any form of incarceration. You’re just going a little stir-crazy,” Fenster said, who will fly onwards to the United States from Doha.

“The longer it drags on, the more worried you become that it’s never going to end. So that’s the biggest concern, just staying sane through that.”

– ‘So happy’ –

On Monday, Fenster was pardoned and released on “humanitarian grounds” the junta said, ending 176 days spent in a colonial-era prison where many of Myanmar’s most famous dissidents have been held.

His release was secured following “face-to-face negotiations” between former US diplomat Bill Richardson and junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, Richardson’s organisation said in a statement.

Fenster’s father Buddy expressed relief after speaking with his son on the phone, saying there was “nothing harder on a parent” than knowing a child is in distress and being unable to help.

“He has been sleeping on a wooden pallet for close to six months. And he said, ‘The plane’s got a bed in it’ and I said, you know, ‘Danny, take a rest, man, just stretch out on that thing.’ I’m just so happy to hear that,” he said.

The junta said two Japanese envoys, Hideo Watanabe and Yohei Sasakawa, had been involved in the negotiations to release Fenster, without providing details.

“It’s wonderful news for all of his friends and family,” his colleague at Frontier Myanmar, Andrew Nachemson, told AFP.

“But of course he never should have spent six months in jail… and all the local journalists who remain imprisoned should also be released immediately.”

– ‘Hostage’ –

The United States welcomed his release, saying he had been “wrongfully detained”.

“We are glad that Danny will soon be reunited with his family as we continue to call for the release of others who remain unjustly imprisoned in Burma,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, using Myanmar’s former name.

Richardson visited Myanmar earlier this month on what was described as a “private humanitarian mission.”

He said at the time that the US State Department had specifically asked him not to raise Fenster’s case during his visit.

Fenster is believed to have contracted Covid-19 during his detention, family members said during a conference call with American journalists in August.

“I doubt there were any concessions” from Washington, International Crisis Group’s Myanmar senior advisor Richard Horsey told AFP.

“More likely it was politely explained that keeping US citizens hostage is a bad idea.”

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power in February, ousting Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government.

More than 10,000 people have been arrested by security forces in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

Media outlets have also been under pressure as the junta tries to tighten control over the flow of information, throttling internet access and revoking the licences of local outlets.

More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the putsch, according to Reporting ASEAN, a monitoring group. It says at least 30 are still in detention.