Myanmar frees elite prisoners as ‘sham’ election sparks global outrage

YANGON, MYANMAR: For many, Sunday was a day of long-awaited freedom. Hundreds of prisoners, including a former government minister and a celebrated model, stepped out of Myanmar’s prisons as part of the military junta’s annual Independence Day pardons. The release comes just a week after the country began a tightly controlled election widely criticised as a sham.

At Yangon’s infamous Insein Prison, a dozen buses rolled out under the morning sun, carrying inmates into a world many had not seen for years. Families crowded the gates, holding signs with the names of loved ones, their faces a mix of hope and anxiety. Some prisoners waved to the crowds, tentative at first, then gradually allowing the relief and joy to show.

“I just want to see my father,” said a man, speaking on condition of anonymity. His father had been jailed for “doing politics,” and he could only hope he would be among those released.

Among the freed was former information minister Ye Htut, who had spent more than two years of a 10-year sentence for sedition and incitement against the military. “I was informed about my release early this morning. I didn’t expect that,” he told AFP, describing months in isolation without family visits. Ye Htut had served as presidential spokesman under the military-backed government of Thein Sein before Aung San Suu Kyi’s historic 2015 election.

Also freed was famous model and ex-medic Nang Mwe San, who in 2022 was imprisoned for purportedly posting graphic videos online. Her release was met with cheers from waiting supporters.

Tearful reunions unfolded across the prison grounds. Thirty-five-year-old Yazar Tun, who served eight months of a one-year sentence for loitering, cradled one of his three children and said, “I am very happy to reunite with my family.” For many, the releases were not just political—some were everyday people jailed for minor crimes like theft or drugs, and Sunday offered a brief return to normal life.

In total, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pardoned 6,134 Myanmar nationals, while 52 foreign prisoners were also released and deported, according to the National Defence and Security Council.

The pardons coincide with a month-long election staged in phases across the country. The military has presented the vote as a path to democracy, but rights groups and foreign diplomats have called it a strategy to legitimise military rule.

Official results from the first phase show the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) winning 90% of the lower house seats declared so far. Analysts describe the USDP as a civilian front for the military. Two more voting phases are scheduled for Jan 11 and 25.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), once Myanmar’s dominant political party, remains banned, and Aung San Suu Kyi has been jailed since the 2021 coup. The military overturned the NLD’s 2020 landslide victory, citing voter fraud that international observers say never occurred.

Despite junta claims of more than 50% turnout in the first phase, participation lagged behind the roughly 70% of 2020. Myanmar has a history of granting mass amnesties during holidays and Buddhist festivals, including a pre-election pardon in November that freed more than 3,000 prisoners, many of whom had been jailed under post-coup laws restricting free speech.

For the newly released, Sunday was not about politics—it was about returning home, holding their children, and feeling, even for a moment, that the world outside prison walls was still theirs.