“Journalists like Danny put their lives on the line because they believe in truth-telling. His case hits home because it’s about our fundamental values as a democracy and good government, and it literally hits home for me because Danny and his brother Bryan went to my high school–they’re Berkley Bears! His loved ones and his many supporters are in pain, and I just can’t rest until he arrives home safely.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today marks two weeks since Burmese authorities captured and imprisoned Congressman Andy Levin's (MI-09) constituent, journalist Danny Fenster. During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Rep. Levin delivered the following remarks:
Rep. Levin: "On May 24, the Managing Editor of the news outlet Frontier Myanmar, Danny Fenster, was arrested at Yangon International Airport, where he was heading home to visit his family in Huntington Woods, Michigan in my district. He has been transferred to Insein Prison, which according to CNN is ‘one of the country's most notorious political prisons, known for its deplorable conditions.'"
"Journalists like Danny put their lives on the line because they believe in truth-telling. His case hits home because it's about our fundamental values as a democracy and good government, and it literally hits home for me because Danny and his brother Bryan went to my high school–they're Berkley Bears! His loved ones and his many supporters are in pain, and I just can't rest until he arrives home safely.
"My staff and I have been on the phone with your Department staff, embassy officials, and Danny's family every day, doing everything we can to draw attention to his case and make sure his immediate and unconditional release remains a top priority. I want to thank you, the State Department, and especially our Ambassador in Burma Tom Vajda, for your hard work. I'm truly grateful for that. Nevertheless, Danny remains in prison with no charges and no consular access. We need him freed immediately and unconditionally.
"Mr. Secretary, I need to ask you to redouble your efforts. What more can you do, and what can we do in Congress to support the State Department's efforts to bring Danny home?
Sec. Blinken: "Thank you. I appreciate everything you said. We share the deep concern for Daniel Fenster. We have another American citizen journalist, Nathan Muang, who is also being arbitrarily detained. We've had access to him. We've not had access to Daniel Fenster. That's a violation, among other things, of the Vienna Convention. We are pressing this in every way that we can.
"We have very limited if any contact with the military regime but certainly through others we're pressing this as best we can, and we will continue to do so. Other countries also have detained citizens in in Myanmar—deep concern there as well—and we are all working together as well to try to get our people home. And it's, as you point out, extremely egregious in the case of journalists who are doing their jobs on behalf of all this.
"So all I can tell you and all we can commit to is doubling down on our efforts to do this. I wish I had a sort of silver bullet answer here, except to say, we are very focused on this, very engaged. We want to get them out, get them home."
Source:https://andylevin.house.gov/media/press-releases/levin-questions-secretary-blinken-danny-fenster-journalist-imprisoned-burma
