The managing editor of an independent online magazine was released from prison in Myanmar, following negotiations between former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson and the ruling military junta.
The Associated Pressand was sentenced last week to 11 years of hard labor, was freed Monday and began his journey home.
Fenster, the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was convicted Friday of spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations. Days before his conviction, he learned he had been charged with additional violations of terrorism and treason statutes that put him at risk of an even longer sentence of life in prison.
“We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home — we cannot wait to hold him in our arms,” his family said in a statement. “We are tremendously grateful to all the people who have helped secure his release, especially Ambassador Richardson, as well as our friends and the public who have expressed their support and stood by our sides as we endured these long and difficult months.
Frontier Myanmar Editor-in-Chief Thomas Kean said Fenster was"one of many journalists in Myanmar who have been unjustly arrested simply for doing their job since the February coup.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ex-US diplomat says Myanmar frees jailed American journalistBANGKOK (AP) — Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson says American journalist Danny Fenster has been released from prison in Myanmar. Richardson said in a statement Monday that Fenster had been released from prison and handed over to him in Myanmar and would be soon on his way home via Qatar.
Read more »
U.S. Journalist Danny Fenster Released by MyanmarThe 37-year-old journalist, who is expected home in the U.S. soon, was freed following a trip to Myanmar by Bill Richardson, a former U.S. diplomat who has been involved in the release of hostages before.
Read more »
US journalist jailed in Myanmar for nearly 6 months is freedAmerican journalist Danny Fenster, who was recently sentenced to 11 years of hard labor after spending nearly six months in jail in military-ruled Myanmar, was freed and on his way home Monday, a former U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the release said. Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was convicted Friday of spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations. “This is the day that you hope will come when you do this work,” Bill Richardson, a former governor of New Mexico and past ambassador to the U.N., said in a statement emailed by his office.
Read more »
American returns to Afghanistan to save wife, escapes 2 months after US forces leftFor 19 days, a naturalized American citizen born in Afghanistan, who served the U.S. mission there for four years, has been waiting at a military base in Qatar, eager to make it back to the American Dream he built for himself and his wife.
Read more »
Shipping crisis: American farm exports hit; containers leave US emptyAmerican farmers are losing export sales in the shipping crisis as over two-thirds of containers leave California ports empty to rush back to Asia for reloading
Read more »