Phil Blackwood, a New Zealand national incarcerated in Rangoon’s Insein Prison since December 2014, was released in a Presidential Amnesty on Friday.

Phil Blackwood, a New Zealand national incarcerated in Rangoon’s Insein Prison since December 2014, was released in a Presidential Amnesty on Friday.
“We have been doing some work on it. We have been looking at it, and we have been dealing with it,” Premier John Key said.
The case of Phil Blackwood, Tun Thurein and Htut Ko Ko Lwin has highlighted the issue of blasphemy and Buddhism. Buddhist scholar Dr Paul Fuller comments.
Jailed for religious defamation, New Zealander Phil Blackwood is the sole foreigner on Amnesty International’s list of 91 prisoners of conscience in Burma.
New Zealand bar-restaurant manager has lost over 30 kg in weight and needs to take anti-depressants while in Insein Prison, says family.
New Zealander Phil Blackwood, and his Burmese partners Tun Thurein and Htut Ko Ko Lwin are each found guilty of defaming religion.