Australian economist Sean Turnell and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota arrived home Friday after an amnesty by the Myanmar junta for thousands of prisoners including four foreign nationals arrested since a military coup that has thrust the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.

 

Turnell, a former economic advisor to ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, landed in Melbourne early Friday. His wife, Ha Vu, released a statement saying she was “overwhelmed with joy” that her “beloved husband” was back home, Australian network ABC reported.

 

Earlier, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong tweeted a picture of a gaunt-looking Turnell, who had been detained for 650 days, alongside the nation’s diplomatic chief of mission in Myanmar. Turnell had been serving a three-year sentence under the Myanmar Government Secrecy Act.

 

On Thursday, Myanmar’s state-run MRTV showed footage of the freed foreign nationals signing exit documents with officials. An announcement posted in state media said the four individuals were released “on humanitarian grounds as well as on the ground of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and their respective countries.”

 

The British government confirmed the release of Vicky Bowman, a former U.K. ambassador to Myanmar, who had been sentenced to one year for a purported immigration offense. Her Burmese artist husband, Htein Lin, was also pardoned from his one-term prison sentence.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking at a news conference Thursday in Bangkok on the sidelines of the APEC summit, welcomed the release of U.S.-Burmese national Kyaw Htay Oo, who he said had been “unjustly detained” and imprisoned in Myanmar for more than 14 months.

 

The Japanese journalist Kubota, who was arrested in July while filming a protest in Yangon, was serving a 10-year prison term. He arrived back in Tokyo early Friday, Japanese media reported.

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said Thursday that 5,774 prisoners in all were being released, including 712 political prisoners, to mark Myanmar’s National Day, which commemorates the start of unrest against British colonial rule in 1920.

 

But the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said that as of Thursday evening, only 53 political prisoners had been released.

 

And according to information compiled by RFA Burmese, only four Burmese journalists were among those freed, and about 50 remain in detention.

 

The husband of a prominent female journalist said he waited in the rain in front of Insein Prison waiting for her release.

 

“I waited for her in front of Insein Prison until 7 p.m., and waited for her until all the released people were out of the prison. But she did not come out,” said the husband, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter.

 

Like many of the jailed journalists, his wife has been charged under Section 505 (a) of the penal code, which carries up to three years in prison for those accused of statements or reports that cause government officials or members of the military to “mutiny or otherwise disregard his duty.”

 

The journalists RFA confirmed were freed on Thursday were: Than Htike Aung, the editor of Mizzima News who was jailed in Yamethin Prison in Mandalay region; freelance journalist La Pyae who was jailed in Pyay Prison; Ye Yint Tun, a reporter of Than Taw Sint News, who was held in Pathein Prison; and Mya Won Yan, an editor from the Shan State-based Thalwin Tway Chin News who was held in Lashio Prison.

 

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported Friday that 985 prisoners, including the four foreigners, were released from Yangon’s Insein Prison, and 485 were released from Mandalay Central Prison.

 

The newspaper carried a “pardon order” for three prominent opposition figures: former Minister for the Office of the State Counselor Kyaw Tint Swe; former Union Election Commission member Than Htay; and former lawmaker and Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister Lei Lei Maw.

 

There was also a notice of withdrawal of criminal cases against 11 prominent artists and cultural figures.

 

To placate international community

 

Analysts say the amnesty comes as the junta looks to placate the international community, particularly the Southeast Asian bloc, and win support for its plan for elections next year.

 

Mya Aye, a veteran activist who was among those released, said he wasn’t optimistic about the current political situation in Myanmar. “Our country has struggled with internal conflicts since independence in 1948, and now it has become a completely failed state. It will be very difficult to come up with a way to overcome this political situation.”

 

Elections alone will not solve the country’s problems, Mya Aye said. “The real problem we need to solve is how do we build a federal union. We need a democratic federal constitution. I think it’s time for all of us — the military, the people, the democratic forces including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to think about it.”

 

The Myanmar military is “trying to build some sort of additional support ahead of its plans for a sham election,” said Jason Tower, the country director for the United States Institute of Peace.

 

“What’s important to recognize here I think is that in no way should anyone be interpreting the release of these prisoners as something which gives legitimacy to the military,” he said. “While it’s releasing prisoners at the very same time it’s still perpetrating war crimes on a daily basis.”

 

The junta, which seized power from an elected civilian administration in February 2021 after the military-backed party fared poorly in national elections, has persecuted its political opponents. Suu Kyi is serving 26 years in prison on what are widely viewed as politically motivated charges. The military takeover has triggered a multi-front insurgency. Local organizations say 1.7 million people have been displaced by the conflict and more than 2,300 civilians have been killed.

 

The prisoner releases come just as Indonesia takes over the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and could be intended to persuade it from taking a tougher line toward the junta than the 2022 ASEAN chair, Cambodia, which sent a special envoy to Myanmar twice this year with no progress on implementing the Five Point Consensus – a diplomatic effort to restore peace and democracy to the country.

 

“I welcome the Myanmar junta’s release of some who were unjustly imprisoned, but the world needs to understand that nothing fundamentally has changed,” former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Scot Marciel, wrote in a tweet. “This is a tactical move by the junta, which continues to detain thousands and slaughter innocent people daily.”

 

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