American journalist Danny Fenster, imprisoned since May and recently sentenced to an 11-year sentence by the Myanmar dictatorship, was released on Monday (15).
Fenster, 37, flew to Qatar after receiving amnesty from the military junta that has ruled the country in Southeast Asia since the coup d’état in February. Negotiations for his release were led by former American diplomat Bill Richardson. The former governor of New Mexico, the Democrat is one of the few foreign representatives who had access to General Min Aung Hlaing, the current leader of Myanmar.
The American journalist was editor-in-chief of the digital magazine Frontier Myanmar and had been found guilty of crimes such as incitement, association with illegal groups and violation of immigration laws. In addition, he also received charges last week of sedition and terrorism, which could earn him another 20 years in prison for each crime.
Speaking to journalists after landing at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Fenster looked frail but said he was neither beaten nor starved during his time in detention.
He was trapped in a location known to be the destination of hundreds of opponents of the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar Armed Forces are called. There are numerous accounts of detainees beaten and tortured over the decades the military ran the country.
“I feel great and very happy to be coming home,” said Fenster. “You get a little crazy and the longer time drags on, the more worried you are that it will never end. That was the biggest worry: staying sane.”
Asked whether he had been abused, the journalist said: “I was arrested and held captive, so I suppose so. But physically I was healthy.”
Myawaddy TV, which belongs to the Myanmar military, said Fenster had received amnesty following requests from Richardson and two Japanese negotiators “to maintain friendship between the countries and emphasize humanitarian causes.”
The American had been arrested in May while trying to leave Myanmar to return to Michigan, where he was born, and surprise his family.
“We are delighted that Danny has been released and is on his way home. We look forward to having him in our arms,” his family said in a statement. “We are immensely grateful to all the people who helped secure his release, especially Ambassador Richardson, as well as our friends and the public who expressed their support and stood by us as we endure these long and difficult months.”
The US State Department had been calling for Fenster’s release and had called his arrest “profoundly unfair.” According to sources consulted by the Reuters news agency, however, Washington had initially opposed Richardson’s visit to Myanmar, fearing that his involvement would delay Fenster’s release by leading the military junta to see the journalist as a possible bargaining chip for concessions. of the West.
Fenster was the first Western journalist to be sentenced to prison in Myanmar’s recent history, but dozens of local professionals face similar charges or have been forced to leave the country, which has been experiencing an authoritarian escalation since the military deposed the civilian government and took power.
The United Nations (UN) welcomed Fenster’s release, describing it as a positive step, but reiterated calls for at least 47 other journalists to be released immediately.
Fenster himself said he will join efforts to free other professional colleagues. “We will focus on them as much as possible and do everything we can to put pressure on their behalf.”
According to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners of Myanmar, 10,143 people have been arrested since the military coup and 1,260 have been killed, most in acts of repression by the country’s security forces against protests by protesters calling for an end to the regime and a return to democracy.
This Tuesday (16), Aung San Suu Kyi, former civilian leader of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991, received new criminal charges from the military junta — in all, there are 11 lawsuits, whose maximum sentences total more than 100 years in prison.
She has been imprisoned since the coup d’état and is responsible for crimes such as an alleged violation of protocols to combat the spread of the coronavirus and the publication of information that could “cause fear or alarm”, a practice prohibited by the penal code dating from the colonial period.
Myanmar’s military authorities said Suu Kyi will now also be held accountable for electoral fraud and abuse of power. The prosecution claims that she and Win Myint, president of the country who was also deposed in the coup, were involved in circulating an unsigned letter with their names urging foreign countries not to recognize the military junta after the events on February 1st. .
The two deny involvement and claim that they were being held incommunicado at that time, which would make it impossible to articulate for the publication of the letter. Their trials take place behind closed doors, without independent observers, and defense lawyers, who had been the only source of information on the progress of the case, are currently the object of a warrant of silence.
.
