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Myanmar
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Myanmar: how Bill Richardson used despot diplomacy to secure US journalist Danny Fenster’s release

  • The former US diplomat and his staff frequently act as intermediaries for families of Americans kidnapped, detained or killed abroad
  • US journalist Danny Fenster was freed on Monday from an 11-year sentence in Myanmar after Richardson’s ‘private humanitarian mission’

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Former US diplomat Bill Richardson speaks to the media at Hamad International Airport in Qatar on Monday. Photo: AFP
Agence France-PresseandReuters
The release on Monday of US journalist Danny Fenster from a Myanmar prison was the latest in US-diplomat-turned-freelance-fixer Bill Richardson’s long career of dealing with notorious dictators.
Fenster – handed an 11-year sentence last week for incitement, unlawful association and breaching visa rules – was freed on Monday, a day before he was to face terror and sedition charges that could have seen him jailed for life.

The 37-year-old looked gaunt, with his hair and beard grown longer during captivity, as he emerged from a jet in the Qatari capital Doha with Richardson.

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Myanmar frees American journalist Danny Fenster days after he gets 11-year prison sentence

Myanmar frees American journalist Danny Fenster days after he gets 11-year prison sentence

“I was arrested and held in captivity for no reason … but physically I was healthy,” he told journalists at the airport. “I wasn’t starved or beaten.”

Myanmar’s military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown, which has killed more than 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.

More than 100 journalists have been arrested, according to monitoring group Reporting Asean, which says at least 30 are still in detention.

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