15th November 2021
I have given the occasional update about the American Danny Fenster, managing editor of Frontier magazine in Myanmar. Six months ago, he was arrested and has languished in the infamous Insein prison ever since. He contracted Covid 19 and his health deteriorated.
Danny Fenster was arrested at Yangon International Airport on May 24 as he boarded a flight to the U.S. to see his family in his hometown of Detroit.
At the time, he was working as the managing editor for Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar.
He was charged with incitement, unlawful association, and visa breaches. Additional charges of sedition and terrorism were later added. On Friday 12th November he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
On Monday 15th November he was released and boarded a flight to Qatar and then the USA.
Compared with the top photo, Danny looks as though he has suffered in Insein.
The question has to be asked. Why was he released? What was the deal? What did the Junta get? Is it the start of a weakening of the Junta’s position in that they now need deals? The economy is certainly hurting, and the Junta will be looking for funds.
Fenster, the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was released after nearly six months in jail to former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson, who met with junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing two weeks earlier as part of a humanitarian mission to Myanmar. The two were on their way back to the U.S. via a flight to Qatar early on Monday.
Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun confirmed to RFA’s Myanmar Service that Fenster had been freed from Yangon’s Insein Prison and “deported,” although he was unable to explain why the journalist was freed.
“As usual, in this kind of case, he has to be deported. And so, he was released and deported,” the spokesman, adding that the reason for his release and other details “will be announced later.”
Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico who once served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has a history of serving as a kind of intermediary between the U.S. and nations with whom Washington maintains few or no ties, including North Korea and Venezuela. The U.S. has sanctioned the junta for its use of violence against opponents to its rule and relations are at a low.
On Monday, the Richardson Center released a statement by the former governor in which he said that securing Fenster’s release was the outcome “you hope will come when you do this work.”
Source Radio Free Asia 15th November 2021.
A further report mentioned the input from a Japanese envoy.
Fenster’s release was secured after Richardson had face-to-face talks with junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar, according to a statement from The Richardson Center, a non-profit corporation that provides logistical support to Richardson.
But local reports say that the military chief had promised to release the American journalist through a request made by Yohei Sasakawa, the Japanese Special Envoy for reconciliation in Myanmar. Sasakawa is currently visiting Myanmar’s Rakhine State. A Myanmar military press release seen by VOA Burmese confirmed that Fenster was pardoned and deported on humanitarian grounds, at the request of American and Japanese officials.
Source Voice of America November 15th, 2021.
Good news then and we all wish Danny well and hope he recovers in due course. The Junta saved face by releasing him on humanitarian grounds and the American and Japanese envoys did their job. It will be interesting to see what developments there are in the near future and what has been granted to the regime in exchange. They don’t do this sort of thing for free.
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