Myanmar: Pressure mounts on Junta to release jailed political prisoners

Myanmar's civilian National Unity Government (NUG) urged the populace and the international community to exert further pressure on the junta to release all political prisoners immediately and without conditions.

Following the coup in 2021, there were numerous rallies that were violently put down, resulting in thousands of arrests and igniting armed resistance all around the nation.

In response to the junta crackdowns, the international community, notably the US and EU, have demanded the release of all political prisoners and imposed penalties against the regime's top officials and allies in the industry.

Among the nearly 6,000 convicts given amnesty by the dictatorship on Thursday was a minister of the National League for Democracy, the party's spokesman Dr Myo Nyunt, former student leader Ko Mya Aye, and an anti-regime Buddhist monk.

Dr Myo Nyunt and Ko Mya Aye, two of the '88 Generation Students group's leaders, were both freed from Yangon's Insein Prison. 

Both were detained on February 1st, during the coup.

An organisation that fights for inmates' rights, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), informed The Irrawaddy that 72 political prisoners had been freed as of Friday afternoon.

Other people being released include former Daw Aung San Suu Kyi advisor and economist Sean Turnell from Australia, former British diplomat Vicky Bowman, and her spouse Htein Linn from Myanmar, and director Toru Kubota from Japan.

Observers claimed that amnesty was a tried-and-true tactic adopted by previous juntas to lessen external pressure. 

Both Western sanctions and ASEAN member criticism are directed at the regime.

However, the ASEAN's special representative on Myanmar, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, said on Thursday that the amnesty was a significant sign of "goodwill in achieving a peaceful settlement to the current situation." 

The junta in Myanmar and the Cambodian government are closely related.

In the upcoming weeks, he committed to travelling to Myanmar a third time "to assist Myanmar's return to normalcy and a democratic path."

Prak Sokhonn was not permitted to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during his previous visits.