{"id":3560,"date":"2025-11-27T12:24:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=3560"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:24:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:24:28","slug":"myanmars-military-rulers-grant-amnesty-to-thousands-ahead-of-election-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=3560","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar\u2019s military rulers grant amnesty to thousands ahead of election | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Order reduces sentences for 3,085 people and drops charges against another 5,580 people still at large.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 27 Nov 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">27 Nov 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Myanmar\u2019s military rulers have pardoned or dropped charges against 8,665 people locked up for opposing the army rule as the country prepares for next month\u2019s elections, according to state media.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement on Thursday paves the way for prisoners to vote in upcoming polls\u00a0that human rights groups have criticised as a sham process.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Myanmar\u2019s military seized power in a 2021 coup that caused a civil war, but it has scheduled elections to start in December and trumpeted them as a return to normalcy for the Southeast Asian nation.<\/p>\n<p>The order includes the reduction of sentences for 3,085 people convicted for comments \u201cthat could cause fear or spread fake news\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Charges against another 5,580 people still at large have also been dropped.<\/p>\n<p>It was not immediately clear how many of those covered are political detainees, or when the releases would occur.<\/p>\n<p>Before the amnesty was formally announced, Myanmar military government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said on Wednesday that the measures were designed to help all eligible voters cast their ballots \u201cfreely and fairly\u201d on December 28.<\/p>\n<p>An official from Yangon\u2019s Insein Prison, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to release information, told The Associated Press news agency on Thursday that prisoner releases would immediately begin, but he did not provide the numbers and names of inmates to be freed.<\/p>\n<p>In some past amnesties, releases have taken several days.<\/p>\n<p>Outside of Insein Prison, which for decades has served as the main place of detention for political prisoners, dozens of people gathered on Thursday morning to welcome friends and relatives who were being freed under an amnesty.<\/p>\n<p>It was not immediately clear whether the prisoner release would include the 80-year-old former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held virtually incommunicado since the military\u2019s seizure of power in February 2021. She is serving a 27-year sentence.<\/p>\n<p>But among those freed on Thursday was Kyi Toe, the former information committee chief of Suu Kyi\u2019s National League for Democracy (NLD) party who was jailed since 2021, according to AFP news agency.<\/p>\n<p>He largely avoided the topic of politics in a post-release interview, but pledged \u201cto be strong to work together\u201d with Suu Kyi \u2014 who remains sequestered in military detention in the capital Naypyidaw.<\/p>\n<p>Critics have asserted that the upcoming election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of Suu Kyi\u2019s dissolved NLD party have been arrested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful news for the prisoners,\u201d Mark Farmaner, director of the human rights group Burma Campaign UK, wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>But \u201cas expected\u201d political prisoners are being used \u201cfor public relations purposes by Burmese military to try to build a fake narrative of reform\u201d ahead of the polls, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Some 22,708 political detainees, including Aung San Suu Kyi, were in detention as of Wednesday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organisation that keeps detailed tallies of arrests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Order reduces sentences for 3,085 people and drops charges against another 5,580 people still at large. Published On 27 Nov 202527 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Myanmar\u2019s military rulers have pardoned or dropped charges against 8,665 people locked up for opposing the army rule as the country prepares for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}