US journalist Danny Fenster was "pardoned" before being deported from Myanmar where he had been sentenced to 11 years in jail and was to face further terror and sedition charges, the junta said today.
The junta's information team said in a statement that he was pardoned before his release on "humanitarian grounds" following negotiations with former US top diplomat Bill Richardson and two Japanese envoys.
His employer confirmed that he has boarded a flight out of the country three days after he was jailed for 11 years in a ruling that drew international condemnation.
The 37 year old managing editor of independent online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was arrested in May and sentenced to prison on Friday for incitement and violations of immigration and unlawful assembly laws.
He was among dozens of media workers detained since the 1 February military coup that triggered nationwide protests and strikes in an outpouring of anger over the abrupt end of a decade of tentative steps towards democracy in Myanmar.
Photos released by the information team showed Mr Fenster, flanked by two Myanmar military officials, signing a document in the capital Naypyidaw, where he later boarded a flight to leave the country.
The United States welcomed his release, saying he had been "wrongfully detained."
"We are glad that Danny will soon be reunited with his family as we continue to call for the release of others who remain unjustly imprisoned in Burma," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, using Myanmar's former name.
Mr Fenster, who spent 176 days in detention, was sentenced to 11 years in prison last week for encouraging dissent against the military, unlawful association and breaching immigration laws.
He was due to go on trial tomorrow on charges of terrorism and sedition, which could have seen him jailed for life.
Frontier's editor-in-chief, Thomas Kean, said in a statement: "We are relieved that Danny is finally out of prison - somewhere he never should have been in the first place.
"But we also recognise Danny is one of many journalists in Myanmar who have been unjustly arrested simply for doing their job since the February coup."
He called on the military government to release all the journalists imprisoned in Myanmar.
Mr Fenster was the first Western journalist sentenced to prison in recent years in Myanmar, where the coup against the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has left the country in chaos, with the junta struggling to consolidate power and facing growing international pressure.
Human rights groups condemned Myanmar's junta over the court's sentencing, which came days after additional charges of sedition and breaches of a terrorism law.
The United States had been pressing for his release and at the weekend condemned the ruling as an "unacceptable attack on freedom of expression".
Mr Fenster's family said they were "overjoyed" at the news he was free.
"We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home - we cannot wait to hold him in our arms.
"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," the family said in a statement.
More than 1,200 people have been killed by security forces in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.
Additional reporting Reuters
