SEPTEMBER 9 • 2021 | 25

T

he family of journalist and 
Huntington Woods native Danny 
Fenster marked 100 days since he 
was taken prisoner by the Myanmar mili-
tary junta with an Aug. 31 press conference 
expressing gratitude for the support received 
from friends, community and government 
officials as well as their continued determi-
nation to assure his release. 
Fenster is the managing editor of 
Frontier Myanmar. On May 24, 2021, he 
was detained by the military in Myanmar 
moments before he was to fly from Yangon 
to Detroit to see his family for the first time 
in three years. Since then, he has been held 
at the notorious Insein Prison under inves-
tigation for a law criminalizing dissent that 
carries a maximum three-year jail sentence. 
He has yet to be charged. 
The fourth foreign journalist arrested 
since the military takeover in February 2021, 
Danny is one of more than 70 reporters in 
Myanmar who have been wrongfully impris-
oned. Their plight has drawn international 
calls for their freedom. 
Danny’s brother Bryan said the family has 
not spoken with the journalist since Aug. 1, 
when he first complained of symptoms such 
as congestion and fever but had not been 
tested for COVID. There has been a sharp 
rise in COVID cases in the cloistered coun-
try, especially within the prison. 
“One hundred days into his imprison-
ment, my fists are clenched just as tightly 

as they were on the first day.
” said Bryan 
Fenster, who has worked tirelessly to keep 
the spotlight on his brother’s plight with the 
#BringDannyHome social media campaign 
and other actions. “The worst part is that 
sleepless nights have become our new nor-
mal.
”
Bryan said Danny is being represented by 
an attorney from Frontier Myanmar, and the 
family is in touch with the lawyer through a 
translator, though communication and infor-
mation has been very limited. Danny’s next 
hearing was scheduled for Sept. 6.
U.S. Congressman Andy Levin, who was 
also on the conference call, released a state-
ment ahead of the grim milestone. Though 
he had no promising developments to report 
on the journalist’s status, he said that he, with 
the Fenster family, the State Department and 
Congress, are “pursuing all possible chan-
nels to move Burma’s military authorities to 

release Danny.
“I want to reach out to everyone because 
we must not remain silent,
” read Levin’s 
statement. “The urgency of our efforts has 
not diminished in any way — not Danny’s 
family, not our community and not the 
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage 
Affairs, not any of us. We remain as commit-
ted as ever to bringing Danny home imme-
diately and unconditionally.
”
Each morning when Danny’s father, 
Buddy Fenster, wakes up in Huntington 
Woods, he knows another day is ending in 
Myanmar that his son is not free. 
“We were hoping to have him home by 
Rosh Hashanah,
” Buddy said. “We celebrate 
Judaism with happiness and family together-
ness but, unfortunately, there is also suffer-
ing. Danny was raised listening to the stories 
of his grandmother (Lily Fenster) who is a 
Holocaust survivor. We believe those stories 
resonated deeply for Danny. It was what 
inspired him to want to tell the stories of 
other people who do not have a voice and 
who have suffered as well.
” 
Danny’s mother, Rose Fenster, added, “
As 
a journalist, Danny has always been the type 
of person to deeply care and listen and tell 
other people’s stories. We are grateful for 
our community as well as local government 
support who continue to keep Danny’s story 
alive. Hope is inherent in human nature. We 
are going to stay tough and feed off Danny’s 
strength.
” 

Journalist Danny Fenster remains in 
Myanmar, imprisoned without charges.

100 Days and 
Counting

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Danny Fenster

