American Reporter Detained in Myanmar for Committing Journalism
This, remember, comes from a government that seized power in February after ousting elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who herself had been widely criticized for being too soft on atrocities committed by the military. Now she faces charges by the rogue military government that she apparently failed to appease.
That brings no comfort to Fenster’s family or friends back home in Michigan. “You know, my wife cries, I pace, nobody sleeps,” Danny’s father, Buddy Fenster, told me in a telephone interview from the family’s home in Huntington Woods, a Detroit suburb.
“Fifteen days and we haven’t been able to get to step one with that country,” he said, referring to the rules of the Geneva Conventions that the coup government has defied by withholding information and access by American consular officials.
“For one thing, he’s been imprisoned for no reason. No charges. No information at all. They just rounded up journalists,” he said. “They’re just really ignoring our overtures to try to get this thing resolved and cleaned up quickly.”
Worse, he and Maung reportedly are being held in Insein Prison, a notorious hellhole for political prisoners, including journalists.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the arrests of Fenster and Maung were of “deep concern,” and urged that they be freed and allowed to return home to their families.
Danny’s friends and family are trying to call attention to his case with T-shirts and a MoveOn.org petition that was coming close to its goal of 40,000 signatures. I won’t discourage you from adding your name.
Adding to the senselessness of his detention, his hiring preceded the coup and his job was mainly managing and editing, his family says. When other journalists left the country or went anonymous, he apparently saw no reason to follow them.
“He felt he was under the radar,” his dad recalled. “He wasn’t doing any hardcore reporting. But over there, you don’t need proof, you just need to be arrested.”
========
(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
©2021 Clarence Page. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(c) 2021 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
