A US journalist imprisoned in Myanmar since May was released and deported on November 15, a day before he was due to face terror and sedition charges that could have jailed him for life.

The military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown on dissent.

Danny Fenster, 37, had been working at local outlet Frontier Myanmar for around a year and was arrested as he headed home to see his family in May.

He was jailed for 11 years last week for incitement, unlawful association and breaching visa rules and had been due to appear in court on November 16 to face sedition and terror charges – which could have seen him jailed for life.

But on November 15 junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP he had been freed and would be deported from the country.

Fenster’s release was secured following negotiations between former top US diplomat Bill Richardson and junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, Richardson’s organisation said in a statement.

Fenster would travel home to the US “through Qatar, over the next day and a half”, the Richardson Centre said.

A photo posted by the Richardson Centre showed Fenster, looking thin and gaunt, standing in shorts and flips flops in front of a small plane alongside former diplomat on the tarmac in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw.