Monday, March, 2 2026 -Myanmar’s military junta on Monday granted amnesty to more than 7,000 prisoners convicted of financing or sheltering a “terrorist group”, a designation it has used to outlaw pro-democracy factions opposing its rule.
Thousands of dissenting civilians have been swept into jails
since Myanmar’s military snatched power in a 2021 coup, ending a decade-long
experiment with democracy and detaining elected figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi.
Pro-democracy activists backing Suu Kyi and armed groups
challenging the military in a civil war have been labelled “terrorist” outfits,
and far-reaching laws punish association with life prison terms and possible
death sentences.
A government notice said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing ordered
releases of more than 7,300 prisoners convicted under legislation forbidding
“financing of terrorism” and harbouring or arranging transport for “any
terrorist group”.
It was not immediately clear which groups the prisoners had
been convicted of association with.
In recent months, the junta has announced pardons for some
political crimes in what analysts describe as a bid to soften its image amidst
a handover to a nominally civilian government after elections concluded in
January.
But with Suu Kyi still jailed, her party dissolved, and the
dominant pro-military party securing a walkover win, critics have derided the
transition as a publicity exercise to rebrand the junta’s rule.
An AFP journalist outside Yangon’s Insein Prison — Myanmar’s
most infamous lock-up, renowned for alleged rights abuses — saw around 300
prisoners being bused out of the compound in a convoy on Monday morning.
A gaggle of emotional relatives clutched bouquets of flowers
and placards bearing loved ones’ names as prisoners were released from Insein’s
barbed-wire boundary shortly before noon.
Min Aung Hlaing granted their release to mark a public
holiday on Monday “in consideration of the peace of mind of the general public
as well as on humanitarian grounds”, the government statement said.
Nearly 12,500 people facing trial on the same “terrorism”
charges will have their cases dropped, according to a separate statement.
The junta frequently grants prison amnesties on public
holidays, and Monday’s raft of notices also announced the release of more than
2,800 other prisoners and 10 jailed foreign nationals — without detailing their
offences.
After ruling by force for more than five years, the military
has said its phased month-long election will return power to the people and
offer a chance to end the civil war.
But the poll did not take place in swaths of the country
controlled by rebel groups, and Min Aung Hlaing has not ruled out serving as
president.
The new parliament is due to sit in two weeks, with a
president elected in early April.
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