American
journalist Danny Fenster has been freed from prison in Myanmar, according to a Myanmar military official and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who had been on a private humanitarian visit to the country.
Fenster's release comes just days after the former managing editor of Frontier Myanmar — an independent news outlet that covered current affairs, business and politics — was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a military court in Myanmar.
Myanmar's military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told CNN Business that the journalist "has been released and deported. We will release details why he was released later."
According to a statement released by Richardson on Monday, Fenster will be making his way back to the United States "through Qatar, over the next day and a half."
A former US ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson said he had conducted face-to-face negotiations with Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of Myanmar's military junta.
Fenster's family said they were "overjoyed" at his release.
"We cannot wait to hold him in our arms,' they 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."
Speaking to reporters after he landed in Doha to transit, Fenster said he was physically healthy and he "wasn't starved or beaten" while in prison.
"I am feeling alright physically, it's just the same privation that comes with any form of incarceration, you just go a little stir crazy and the longer it drags on the more worried you are that it's just never going to end. That was the biggest concern just staying through that," he said.
Fenster was one of about 126 journalists or media workers detained since the coup, according to the United Nations. About 47 remain behind bars.
He said he wants to keep the focus on the other journalists still detained in Myanmar "and do everything we can to lobby on their behalf. We are still trying very hard and hoping we can get them out of there."
Fenster, a 37-year-old from Detroit, Michigan, was arrested at Yangon International Airport on May 24 while he was trying to leave the country to visit his family in the United States. He had been denied bail and was held in Insein Prison in Yangon. On Friday, he was found guilty of three charges brought against him by the Myanmar military, which seized control of the country in a coup on February 1.
Those charges included visa breaches, unlawful association with an illegal group and incitement under section 505a of Myanmar's Penal Code, which makes it a crime to publish or circulate comments that "cause fear" or spread "false news." He was also charged with sedition and terrorism offenses.
Sonny Swe, Publisher, CEO and co-founder of Frontier Myanmar, Fenster's former employer in Myanmar, told CNN Business on the phone that Fenster was already on a plane having left Insein prison earlier in the day.
"I'm very, very pleased to hear about the news. Not only our happiness, I've been there before, I know how Danny and the family will be feeling right now," Swe said. "From this point onwards, it's all positive. He deserves to be reunited with his family."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, "we welcome the release of American journalist Daniel Fenster from prison in Burma, where he was wrongfully detained for almost six months."
"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,' he said, using another name for the country.
Since the military seized power, more than 1,260 people have been killed by junta forces and 10,000 people have been arrested, with widespread reports of torture and abuse, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
美国记者丹尼芬斯特从缅甸监狱获释
据缅甸军方官员和前新墨西哥州州长比尔理查森说，美国记者丹尼芬斯特已从缅甸的监狱获释，他曾对该国进行私人人道主义访问。
Fenster 获释前几天，缅甸边境的前任总编辑——一家报道时事、商业和政治的独立新闻媒体——被缅甸军事法庭判处 11 年监禁。
缅甸军方发言人 Zaw Min Tun 告诉 CNN Business，这名记者“已被释放和驱逐出境。我们将在稍后公布他被释放的详细信息。”
根据理查森周一发布的一份声明，芬斯特将“在接下来的一天半内通过卡塔尔”返回美国。
前美国驻联合国大使理查森说，他与缅甸军政府领导人敏昂莱进行了面对面的谈判。
芬斯特的家人说，他们对他的获释感到“欣喜若狂”。
“我们迫不及待地想把他抱在怀里，”他们在一份声明中说。“我们非常感谢所有帮助确保他获释的人，尤其是理查森大使，以及我们的朋友和公众表达了他们的意愿。在我们度过这漫长而艰难的几个月时，我们支持并站在我们这边。”
