Over 3,000 prisoners pardoned on NY Day

NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar’s State Administration Council granted amnesty to more than 3,000 prisoners on Wednesday, the first day of the traditional Myanmar New Year.

Among them were 3,303 Myanmar nationals and 36 foreign prisoners, including 13 Indonesian nationals and 15 Sri Lankan nationals, the council said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The amnesty is to mark Myanmar’s traditional New Year’s Day, bringing joy to the people and looking forward to positive relations with respective countries, while addressing humanitarian concerns, it added.

In a separate pardon order, the council reduced the sentences by one-sixth for some prisoners jailed across the Southeast Asian country.

It’s a customary practice for Myanmar to pardon prisoners annually to celebrate its traditional new year. Last year, more than 3,000 prisoners were released on Myanmar’s traditional New Year’s Day.

Other prisoners were released for the Thingyan New Year holiday, state-run MRTV television announced Wednesday, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many were political detainees. Aung Myo Kyaw of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said the group had heard of 7-10 people released in Yangon and nine from a prison in the central regions of Magway.

Local media in the northern state of Kachin reported that Hkalam Samson, former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention and chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, was among those freed. A resident of the state’s capital, Myitkyina, who said he visited the prison to welcome Samson’s release, posted a brief video of the laughing and smiling minister being greeted outside the prison. The visitor asked to remain anonymous to safeguard his personal security.

Samson was a prominent advocate of human rights in Myanmar and in 2019 was part of a delegation that met US President Trump at the White House to discuss the military’s abuse of ethnic minorities. He was detained in December 2022 while preparing to fly to Thailand for a health checkup, and in April last year was handed a six-year prison term ater being convicted of violating laws on unlawful association, incitement and counter-terrorism.

Christians make up about 6% of Myanmar’s overwhelmingly Buddhist population.

Associated Press ↑ Family members welcome released prisoners and colleagues after they were released from Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar, on Wednesday.