Published On 27 Nov 2025
As Myanmar’s military rulers prepare for the elections in November, 8, 665 people are being held on charges of opposing army rule, according to state media.
The election results on Thursday, which human rights organizations have criticized as a sham process, allowing prisoners to cast ballots in upcoming polls.
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In a 2021 coup that sparked a civil war, Myanmar’s military seized power and threw up elections, which were praised as a return to normalcy for the Southeast Asian nation.
3, 085 people who were found guilty of making comments that “could cause fear or spread fake news” are eligible for reduced sentences under the order.
Additional 5, 580 people who are still at large have also been charged.
When the releases would take place, and how many of those who were covered were political prisoners were it not immediately known.
The measures were outlined in a statement from a spokesman for the Myanmar military government, Zaw Min Tun, who spoke on Wednesday before the amnesty was officially announced.
The Associated Press news agency received a message from a Yangon Insein Prison official on Thursday, but he did not specify the names or phone numbers of the prisoners who would be freed.
Releases took several days in some earlier amnesties.
Numerous people gathered on Thursday morning to welcome friends and family members who were being freed under an amnesty outside Insein Prison, which has for decades been the main detention facility for political prisoners.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 80, who has been essentially imprisoned since the military’s military’s seized control in February 2021, was not immediately known for his inclusion in the prisoner release. She is currently serving a sentence of 27 years.
Due to the lack of free media and the arrest of the majority of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party leaders, critics claim that the election will be neither free nor fair.
The director of Burma Campaign UK, Mark Farmaner, wrote on X: “It’s wonderful news for the prisoners.”
However, he added that Burmese military are using political prisoners “as expected” to try to create a false narrative of reform before the elections, “for public relations purposes.”





