The U.S. government sought the help of Yohei Sasakawa, Japan's special envoy for national reconciliation in Myanmar, to win the freedom of American journalist Danny Fenster recently jailed for 11 years by a military court, the envoy revealed Thursday according to Kyodo.

Sasakawa, chairman of the philanthropic Nippon Foundation, made the remarks in an interview with Kyodo News amid his "personal" visit to Myanmar, where the military ousted the elected government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi last February.

He said he was asked by the U.S. government to intercede with the military in the case of Mr Fenster. In releasing Mr Fenster, military authorities said he was amnestied at the request of Sasakawa and other intermediaries from Japan and the United States "in view of the existing friendly relations between Myanmar and those countries and on humanitarian grounds."