Ko Oo, the husband of the jailed journalist Shin Daewe, told DVB that his wife hasn’t been released from Yangon’s Insein Prison as of 5pm Monday, dismissing the reports of her release in a regime amnesty on March 2.
“There are people waiting in front of Insein, and we are also waiting at home… It is now 5:00 PM Myanmar time, so the prison is closed,” he told DVB.
Friends and family members of another jailed journalist Hmu Yadanar Khat Moh Moh Tun told DVB that she was released from the Insein Prison.
“A partial release isn’t good enough – until all jailed journalists are released, Myanmar will remain one of the world’s top enemies of the press,” Shawn Crispin, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) senior Southeast Asia representative, told DVB.
The Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) shared on social media that 324 political prisoners were among the 10,172 prisoners, including 7,337 convicted of violating the Counter-Terrorism Law along with 2,835 others, given amnesty on March 2.
Shin Daewe, 52, was sentenced to life imprisonment under the Counter-Terrorism Law on Jan. 11, 2024 after being arrested at Aung Mingalar Highway Bus Station in Yangon on Oct. 15, 2023.
Hmu Yadanar Khat Moh Moh Tun, a journalist working for the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency (MPA), was sentenced to 13 years in prison for Section 505(a) of criminal incitement and Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law for allegedly “funding terrorism” in 2023.
She was arrested along with her colleague Kaung Sett Lin while covering an anti-coup protest in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township on Dec. 5, 2021. Both were injured by a car, which was reportedly driven by regime police, and rammed into protesters.
Both of them were sentenced to three years in prison under Section 505(a) in December 2022. She received 10 more years under the Counter-Terrorism Law in May 2023.
Sources told DVB that photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike wasn’t released from Insein Prison. He is serving 20 years after being convicted of violating Section 124 of the Sedition Law, Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, and Section 21 of the Natural Disaster Management Law in 2023.
Myanmar ranked second on the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) snapshot of jailed journalists worldwide taken on Dec. 1, 2025, with at least 30 behind bars, trailing only China.
Reporters Without Border (RSF), in its World Press Freedom Index 2025, ranks Myanmar near the bottom at 169 out of 180 with 51 media workers held in prison since the 2021 coup.
The Independent Press Council Myanmar (IPCM), established by media experts from Myanmar in Thailand, reported that at least 200 journalists have been arrested over the last five years.
A total of seven Myanmar journalists have been documented killed since the 2021 military coup, according to press freedom groups.
The regime reported that 10,172 prisoners, including 7,337 convicted of violating the Counter-Terrorism Law, were granted an amnesty on Myanmar’s Peasants’ Day on Monday.
*This story was updated at 5pm Myanmar time (4:30pm ICT)
