Myanmar junta frees hundreds of prisoners in annual amnesty
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Relatives wait for prisoners to be released during an annual amnesty to mark Myanmar's independence day outside Insein prison in Yangon on Jan 4.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
YANGON – Hundreds of prisoners walked free in Myanmar on Jan 4 after the country’s junta announced annual independence day pardons, just a week after the start of an election that international monitors have denounced as a sham.
The military grabbed power in a 2021 coup that triggered civil war, pitting pro-democracy rebels against junta forces, with thousands of activists since arrested.
A dozen buses full of released prisoners exited Yangon’s Insein prison on the morning of Jan 4, with some waving to crowds of well-wishers, AFP journalists saw.
Family members outside the prison held up signs with the names of their jailed loved ones, unsure if they would be among those freed.
One man said he was hoping to see his father, who was jailed for “doing politics”.
“His sentence is about to end. I hope he will be released as soon as possible,” said the man, who declined to be named due to security concerns.
Ex-information minister Ye Htut was among those freed, after serving more than two years of a 10-year sentence for sedition and incitement against the military.
“I was informed about my release early this morning. I didn’t expect that,” Ye Htut told AFP, adding that he had been held in isolation and was not allowed family visits while detained.
He was the presidential spokesman under the military government of Thein Sein, which ceded power to democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi following landmark elections in 2015.
Ye Htut was sentenced in late 2023, weeks after he was arrested for spreading “wrong information” on social media.
Sentenced for loitering
In total, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pardoned 6,134 imprisoned Myanmar nationals, the National Defence and Security Council said, adding 52 foreign prisoners would also be released and deported.
The annual prisoner amnesty, which the junta said was “on humanitarian and compassionate grounds”, was announced as the country marks 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.
Several freed men and women embraced relatives in tears outside Insein, which is notorious for alleged brutal human rights abuses.
Some who spoke to AFP said they had been arrested for drugs, theft and other non-political crimes.
“I am very happy to reunite with my family,” said 35-year-old Mr Yazar Tun, as he held one of his three children outside Insein.
He said he served around eight months of a year-long sentence for loitering.
Prominent model and former doctor Nang Mwe San was also among those released, an AFP journalist saw.
She was arrested in 2022 on a charge of “harming culture and dignity” for allegedly posting explicit videos online.
Decisive lead
Myanmar’s junta opened voting in a phased month-long election
However, rights advocates and Western diplomats have condemned it as a sham and rebranding of martial rule.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has a decisive lead in the first phase
Many analysts describe the USDP as a civilian proxy of the military.
Two more phases of voting are scheduled for Jan 11 and 25.
The massively popular but dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she has been jailed since the coup.
The military overturned the results of the last election in 2020 after the NLD defeated the USDP by a landslide.
The military and USDP then alleged massive voter fraud, claims that international monitors say were unfounded.
The junta has said turnout in the first phase of the election in December exceeded 50 per cent of eligible voters, below the 2020 participation rate of around 70 per cent.
Myanmar frequently grants amnesty to thousands of prisoners to commemorate holidays or Buddhist festivals.
The junta announced the release of more than 9,000 prisoners to mark independence day in 2024, and nearly 6,000 for the same occasion in 2025.
A key aide to Ms Suu Kyi was among hundreds of prisoners freed in a pre-election amnesty in November.
The junta said that month it was dropping sentences for more than 3,000 prisoners, after they were prosecuted under post-coup legislation restricting free speech. AFP
