Myanmar releases 6,000 prisoners in mass amnesty, including British, Australian and Japanese citizens

Foreign prisoners will be deported following release

Myanmar’s military government has released almost 6,000 prisoners under mass amnesty, including an ex-British diplomat, an Australian economist and a Japanese documentary maker, to mark its National Day.

The military junta, which overthrew the democratically elected government in a 2021 coup, said it will grant pardons to the foreign nationals, including Australian economist Sean Turnell, former UK ambassador Vicky Bowman, Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota and a US citizen, state media confirmed.

The move represented a rare olive branch to the Western countries, many of whom had slapped sanctions on the southeast Asian country following an unprecedented coup last year.