US journalist jailed in Myanmar for nearly 6 months is freed

BANGKOK (AP) — American journalist Danny Fenster is on his way home from military-ruled Myanmar.

Fenster spent nearly six months in jail and was sentenced last week to 11 years of hard labor.

On Monday, he was handed over to former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson, who helped negotiate the release, and the two flew out of the Southeast Asian country together.

Fenster is the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar.

He was convicted Friday of spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations.

More than 100 journalists, media officials or publishers have been detained since the military ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February.

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