Status: 11/15/2021 11:40 a.m.
He was sentenced to eleven years of forced labor in Myanmar on Friday – now the US journalist Fenster has been released from prison. A former US diplomat received him in Myanmar.
The US journalist Danny Fenster imprisoned in Myanmar has been released from prison, according to ex-diplomat Bill Richardson. Richardson said he was given the window in Myanmar and will soon be returning to his homeland via Qatar.
Sentenced to 11 years of forced labor
Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine “Frontier Myanmar”, was sentenced on Friday to 11 years of forced labor for disseminating false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations.
“This is the day one hopes for when doing this job,” said Richardson. “We are so grateful that Danny can finally be with his relatives again, who have stood up for him against all odds.” He, Richardson, negotiated the release of Fenster during a recent visit to Myanmar, where he met personally with the leader of the ruling military junta.
Fenster was arrested at Yangon Airport in late May while boarding a flight to Detroit to visit family. Since the military junta came to power and the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted in February, Fenster has been the only foreign journalist found guilty of serious crimes in Myanmar.
Journalists imprisoned, newspapers closed
The military is cracking down on the media in the country: more than a hundred journalists have been arrested since the coup took power on February 1st. According to the organization Reporting Asean, 31 of them are still in custody, some for more than seven months. No one heard from others after their arrest.
The junta has withdrawn their license from eleven broadcasters or newspapers, and raids, storming offices and violence against employees have already forced 20 press companies to give up. Many journalists live and work in hiding or from exile, some have fled to neighboring Thailand.
Around 1,200 people have been killed and almost 8,000 arrested since the coup. The United Nations fear that three million people in the country are in dire need of humanitarian aid; the UN Security Council expressed deep concern about the violence in Myanmar.
With information from Lena Bodewein, ARD-Studio Singapore