American journalist Danny Fenster released from Myanmar jail despite 11 year sentence

Sonny Swe, the publisher of Frontier Myanmar, Fenster’s employer, also confirmed his release in a tweet.

Fenster’s release, Richardson’s center said, was “secured following a private humanitarian visit by Governor Richardson to Myanmar and face-to-face negotiations with General Min Aung Hlaing,” the commander in chief of Myanmar’s military. Fenster will be flying from Myanmar to the United States via Qatar, Richardson added.

Min Aung Hlaing took over as Myanmar’s leader after ousting the democratically-elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup in February.

Fenster, a 37-year-old Detroit native, was the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar magazine. He was seized in May at Yangon International Airport as he tried to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur and was taken to Insein Prison, the company said in a statement Monday.

The prison is notorious for its poor conditions and has been used by Myanmar’s military government to hold scores of political prisoners since the coup.

Last week, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for immigration violations and other crimes, which was widely condemned by press advocates and the U.S. government.

He was also charged with terrorism and sedition, both of which can result in life in prison. Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department, said his sentencing was “an unjust conviction of an innocent person” and said the United States condemns the decision.

When Richardson visited earlier this month, he became the highest profile Western leader to meet with the military general since the coup. Myanmar’s government has sought legitimacy from bodies including the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), both of which have called for a return to democratic norms in the country.

In an unprecedented move, ASEAN declined to invite Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief, to its leaders summit and instead invited a diplomat as a “non political” representative. The move was especially bold for a bloc known for its policy of noninterference and past protection of rogue actors.

Critics said Richardson’s trip risked precisely providing this validity to the junta, which has been slapped with Western sanctions after the coup, including from Richardson’s own government. In an interview with the Associated Press after the trip, he acknowledged the blowback, but said he was “deeply invested” in Myanmar and that its military government had invited him.

“I felt I could make a difference, and I believe I have,” he said in the interview. Richardson after his visit also secured the release of a woman who was working for the Richardson Center, his organization, leading trainings and programs focusing on women’s empowerment in Myanmar.

Richardson said his trip was not about politics, but about delivering vaccines and helping to mitigate another coronavirus wave in the country. The former New Mexico governor, who has also had a long interest in North Korea, has traveled to Myanmar multiple times since 1994 when he visited Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

They had a falling out over how to handle the Rohingya crisis, the expulsion of more than a million of the Muslim minority from their homes to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017.

Since the military seized power, more than 100 journalists have been jailed, several dozen of whom still remain in prison. In a statement, Frontier editor in chief Thomas Kean said Fenster is “is one of many journalists in Myanmar who have been unjustly arrested simply for doing their job since the February coup.

“We call on the military regime to release all of the journalists who remain behind bars in Myanmar,” Kean added.