Myanmar pardons over 4,000 prisoners, including deposed president
Al Jazeera • • world
Key Points:
- Myanmar's coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has granted amnesty or reduced sentences for 4,335 prisoners, including commutations of death sentences to life imprisonment and reductions in other term lengths.
- Former leader Aung San Suu Kyi's 27-year sentence was cut by one-sixth, and former president Win Myint was pardoned with conditions, marking significant changes since Min Aung Hlaing became president.
- The amnesty includes the release of 179 foreign nationals who will be deported, but fewer than 14% of those freed have been political prisoners, despite over 30,000 political detainees since the 2021 coup.
- Rights groups and the UN have called for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, emphasizing that sentences based on politically motivated charges, like those against Suu Kyi, should be annulled entirely.
- Suu Kyi remains unseen in public with unknown whereabouts and reportedly declining health, while families of prisoners express cautious hope amid ongoing political repression.
