Myanmar frees hundreds of political prisoners after pressure from Asean, but rearrests some
- Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed from the notorious Insein prison, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s party spokesman and a famous comedian
- Some activists described the release as a ploy to rebuild Myanmar’s international reputation after its junta chief was excluded from an Asean summit
Minutes after military ruler Min Aung Hlaing’s speech on Monday, state television announced more than 5,600 people arrested or wanted over their roles in anti-coup protests would be freed in an amnesty on humanitarian grounds.
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews on Twitter welcomed the release but said it was “outrageous” that they were detained in the first place.
“The junta is releasing political prisoners in Myanmar not because of a change of heart, but because of pressure,” he said.
The junta has released prisoners several times since the February coup.
Asean decided to invite a non-political representative to its October 26-28 summit, in an unprecedented snub to the military leaders behind the coup against Suu Kyi’s elected government.
Soon after local media began late on Monday documenting the release of parliamentarians, journalists and others from Yangon’s Insein prison and facilities in Mandalay, Lashio, Meiktila and Myeik, reports followed of rearrests.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports and Myanmar’s prison department spokesman and junta spokesman were not immediately available for comment.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a non-profit group which has documented killings and arrests since the coup in February, said that as of Tuesday evening around 40 people had been detained immediately after their release.
Local media, including Democratic Voice of Burma and Khit Thit Media, also reported several people were rearrested.
Myanmar junta blames ‘foreign intervention’ for Asean summit exclusion
“They came to me today and said they will take me home, that’s all,” Monywa Aung Shin, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, told local media Democratic Voice of Burma late on Monday on his way home from prison.
He was arrested on February 1 and had spent eight months in prison.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed detainees reunited with weeping family members.
Other images showed a succession of buses leaving the rear entrance of the jail, with passengers leaning from windows and waving at crowds gathered outside.
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Joy and sorrow as Myanmar junta frees political prisoners detained in anti-coup protests
More political prisoners including parliamentarians and journalists were freed on Monday in other towns.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, which ended a decade of tentative democracy and economic reform.
Security forces have killed more than 1,100 people according to activists and the United Nations and arrested over 9,000 people including Suu Kyi, according to rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which documents killings and arrests.
Meanwhile, a minister said the country’s military-appointed authorities are doing their best to revive an economy in turmoil since the February coup and stabilise the kyat currency, blaming the crisis partly on foreign backers of its opponents.
The currency lost more than 60 per cent of its value in September after months of protests, strikes and economic paralysis following the coup.
Inflation has soared to 6.51 per cent since the military took power from 1.51 per cent previously, and foreign reserves stand at 11 trillion kyat, or US$6.04 billion at the central bank’s official rate, the minister, Aung Naing Oo, said in a rare interview.
It was the first time Myanmar had disclosed its level of foreign currency since the coup, and compares with a World Bank figure of just US$7.67 billion at the end of 2020.
