BANGKOK: A former British envoy, an Australian economic adviser and a Japanese journalist arrived in Thailand late on Thursday after being freed by Myanmar’s junta in an amnesty involving almost 6,000 prisoners.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup last year and has seen a bloody crackdown on dissent in which thousands of people have been jailed.

Former British ambassador Vicky Bowman, Australian economic adviser Sean Turnell and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota touched down in Bangkok just after 7 pm, according to a reporter on their flight.

Bowman, who wore a traditional Burmese dress, did not comment as she was escorted by British embassy staff through the airport to a connecting flight. Kubota wore a T-shirt and waved to fellow passengers but did not respond to a request for comment. But another prisoner freed in the amnesty, US-Myanmar citizen Kyaw Htay Oo, said he was “very happy”. The freed prisoners on the flight looked in good health, the reporter said.

A total of 5,774 prisoners were due to be released to mark Myanmar’s national day, “including some 600 women”, the junta said in a statement on Thursday.

Three former ministers in the government of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi were among those to be freed, it added.

The junta did not say in its statement how many of those pardoned had been arrested during the military’s crackdown on dissent.

Bowman, who served as ambassador from 2002 to 2006, was detained with her husband in August for failing to declare she was living at an address different from the one listed on her foreigner’s registration certificate.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2022