US journalist Danny Fenster, sentenced only days ago to 11 years hard labor in Myanmar, has been freed and is on his way home, former US ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson said yesterday.
Richardson said in a statement that Fenster had been handed over to him in Myanmar and would return to the US via Qatar over the next day and a half.
“This is the day that you hope will come when you do this work,” Richardson said in a statement e-mailed from his office. “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.”
Photo: AFP / Fenster family
Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was on Friday convicted of spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations.
Fenster’s sentence was the harshest punishment yet among the seven journalists known to have been convicted since the military took power.
US Department of State spokesman Ned Price condemned the decision, saying in a statement that it was “an unjust conviction of an innocent person.”
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 long history of involvement with Myanmar, starting in 1994 when as a member of US Congress he met Aung San 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 assistance to the country, particularly the provision of COVID-19 vaccines.
He said his staff had been in touch with Fenster’s family, and when asked if there was hope for Danny Fenster’s release, he replied: “There’s always hope. Don’t ask any more.”
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