Myanmar’s leader has commuted all death sentences

Min Aung Hlaing has commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment in a sweeping order issued Friday, marking one of his first official acts since being installed as Myanmar’s civilian president following the 2021 coup.

The military junta, led by Min Aung Hlaing, seized power in a February 2021 putsch and resumed executions after decades, targeting opponents of the takeover, according to rights groups.

By the following year, more than 130 individuals had been sentenced to death, according to the United Nations, although precise figures remain difficult to verify due to the country’s opaque judicial system.

After five years as armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing was installed as president last week in what democracy watchdogs describe as a civilian rebranding of military rule.

The transition has been accompanied by a partial easing of post-coup restrictions—moves the leadership presents as reconciliation, but critics dismiss as largely cosmetic. A statement said “those serving death sentences shall have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment,” without naming specific individuals.

A previous amnesty in May 2023 commuted the sentences of 38 prisoners, though it did not apply broadly.

Friday’s announcement came as part of a wider amnesty marking Myanmar’s Thingyan New Year celebrations, a period when clemency orders are traditionally issued.

More than 4,300 prisoners are set to be released, along with 179 foreign nationals, while sentences under 40 years will be reduced by one-sixth, according to officials.

Outside Yangon’s Insein Prison, families gathered in intense heat, hoping their relatives would be among those freed.

“My brother is jailed on a political charge,” said Aung Htet Naing, 38. “I hope he is included this time, though he wasn’t in earlier pardons.”

According to the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar, fewer than 14 percent of those freed in past amnesties since the coup were political prisoners.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says more than 30,000 people have been detained for political reasons since the military takeover.

Myanmar’s most prominent detainee, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains incommunicado while serving a 27-year sentence widely condemned by rights groups as politically motivated.

The military removed her elected government in 2021, citing voter fraud in the previous year’s elections—claims rejected by international observers.

The coup has since triggered an ongoing civil war between pro-democracy forces, ethnic armed groups, and the military.

A junta-organised election held in January overturned the 2020 results, handing victory to pro-military parties. National League for Democracy was dissolved and barred from contesting, while criticism of the vote was criminalised and polling did not take place in rebel-held areas.

Lawmakers installed through the election later voted overwhelmingly to appoint Min Aung Hlaing as president, and he was sworn in last week for a five-year term.