Journalist Danny Fenster returns to US after being freed from Myanmar


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Original Story (11/16/21): American journalist Danny Fenster made it back to the United States Tuesday morning, a day after he was freed from a Myanmar prison. The video above shows Fenster reuniting with his family, as well as clips from an ensuing news conference. Fenster had been jailed in Myanmar since May, and was sentenced last week to 11 years of hard labor.

“It’s incredible. I just have so much gratitude right now for everything everyone’s done,” Fenster said upon his return to the U.S. “I’m going to take time to celebrate and spend time with my family.”

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Original Story (11/15/21): Danny Fenster, an American journalist who had been detained in Myanmar since May, was freed Monday. His release comes just days after Fenster was convicted of spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations. He was sentenced to 11 years of hard labor, the harshest yet among the seven journalists known to have been convicted since Myanmar ousted the country’s elected government back in February.

“I was arrested and held in captivity for no reason,” Fenster said Monday. “But physically, I was healthy, I wasn’t starved or beaten.”

Much of the prosecution’s case appeared to hinge on proving Fenster was employed by an online news site that was ordered to close during a crackdown on the media following the military coup. Fenster used to work for the site but left that job last year.

Fenster was freed from Myanmar following negotiations done in part by former New Mexico governor and ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson. According to a tweet thread from his nonprofit the Richardson Center Monday, “Danny and the Richardson team will be making their long journey home, through Qatar, over the next day and a half”. The video above shows clips of negotiations, as well as Fenster arriving in Doha.

“This is the day that you hope will come when you do this work,” former Gov. Richardson said in the tweet thread. “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.”

The Richardson Center went on to say it looks forward to uniting the freed Fenster “with his parents, Buddy and Rose, as well as his brother Bryan, in the United States” after so much time in a Myanmar jail.

“We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home — we cannot wait to hold him in our arms,” Fenster’s family said in a statement, according to a tweet from CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter. “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.”