Myanmar junta to free about 6,000 prisoners in annual amnesty, including 180 foreigners
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It was not clear whether Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held virtually incommunicado since 2021 coup, would be among those released. Myanmar’s military government will release about 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty on Saturday marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain.
There was no sign that the prisoner release would include Aung San Suu Kyi, 79, who has been held virtually incommunicado by the military since it seized power from her elected government in 2021. She is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted of a series of politically tinged prosecutions brought by the military.
Nor was it immediately clear if those released would include any of the thousands of political detainees locked up for opposing army rule since the military coup. State-run MRTV television reported that Sr Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, granted amnesties covering 5,864 prisoners from Myanmar, as well as 180 foreigners who will be deported, according to the Associated Press.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported that the 180 foreigners were included in the 5,864 figure. The foreigners to be released could include four Thai fishers who were arrested by Myanmar’s navy in late November after patrol boats opened fire on Thai fishing vessels in waters close to their maritime border in the Andaman Sea. Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has said she expects the four to be released on independence day.
