Sources at Yangon’s Insein Prison told DVB that journalist and filmmaker Shin Daewe was among the 4,514 prisoners released in an amnesty announced by Min Aung Hlaing on Friday to mark Myanmar’s New Year.

“She’s reunited with her family,” Shin Daewe’s husband Ko Oo confirmed to DVB, adding that she’s in good health. 

Yangon’s Insein Prison Court handed a life sentence to Shin Daewe, 52, under the Counter-Terrorism Law on Jan. 11, 2024. The award-winning filmmaker and former DVB reporter was arrested at Aung Mingalar Highway Bus Station in Yangon on Oct. 15, 2023, while picking up a drone camera delivery. 

Shin Daewe worked as a video journalist at the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) from 2005-2010 and is known for documenting 2007 pro-democracy protests known as the Saffron Revolution. 

She has won several awards for her documentary films, including the 33rd Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Award on Nov. 15, 2025, for her work on environmental issues and the impact of Myanmar’s civil war. 

In January 2024, a military court sentenced the detained journalist to life imprisonment under section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which was later reduced to 15 years. While in jail, she was interrogated repeatedly and tortured, according to her husband. He told RFA he had seen evidence of violence during two prison visits, including “stitches on her head and wounds on her arms.”

“The release of Shin Daewe is an immense relief, first and foremost for her loved ones, but also for the entire Myanmar journalism community. It must be made clear that she should never have been arrested, nor subjected to mistreatment. We now call on the Myanmar regime to immediately release the 40 journalists still detained in the country, according to the RSF barometer,” said Cédric Alviani, the director of RSF Asia-Pacific.

RSF has long campaigned for the release of Shin Daewe, who is known for her work on environmental issues and the impact of the civil war in Myanmar. She has won multiple awards, including the 2025 RSF Press Freedom Prize for Independence, awarded while she was still in detention.

Myanmar ranks 169th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index. The country is the world’s second-largest jailer of journalists, just behind China.

Amnesty International Thailand staged a protest outside of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok on Wednesday, calling for the immediate release of another jailed Myanmar journalist Sai Zaw Thaike, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for reporting on Cyclone Mocha in May 2023. 

“Sai Zaw should be able to report freely. He should also be at home, spending time with his family and doing the things he loves. Instead he is locked up, enduring beatings and periods of solitary confinement,” Amnesty International stated in its press release on Dec. 4. 

Sai Zaw Thaike, 42, remained inside Myanmar following the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. He was sentenced by a military tribunal in Yangon to 20 years in prison with hard labor for violating Section 505-A of the penal code, which criminalizes spreading “fake news” and “incitement” against the military.

Sai Zaw Thaike was also convicted of violating Section 124 of the Sedition Law, Section 66 (D) of the Telecommunications Law, and Section 27 of the Natural Disaster Management Law in 2023. 

With the release of Shin Daewe on April 17, Sai Zaw Thaike is now serving the longest prison sentence handed to a journalist. Protestors outside the embassy in Bangkok held signs reading “Capturing the Truth is Not a Crime.”

Amnesty International Thailand announced that it has submitted 3,008 signatures of Myanmar citizens to the embassy demanding the release of Sai Zaw Thaike. 

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), ​a human rights monitoring group, has stated that more than 30,000 people have been detained on political ​charges since the 2021 military coup.