Myanmar releases 6 journalists in pre-election amnesty

Bangkok, December 4, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the recent release of six journalists in Myanmar as part of a pre-election amnesty of more than 3,800 political prisoners, but urges junta authorities to free all remaining jailed members of the press.

Those freed are Zaw Linn Htut (Phoe Thar), Htet Htet Khine, Nay Naw, Nyein Chan Wai, Aung San Lin, and Sithu Aung Myint, according to news reports, data compiled by the Independent Myanmar Journalists Association and Independent Press Council Myanmar, and contacts at the reporters’ respective news organizations who communicated with CPJ via email. Sentences of the released journalists ranged from five years to 12 years.

All had been detained for their reporting in the years following the military’s 2021 coup, when authorities intensified use of anti-state provisions, including Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and the Counterterrorism Law, to target and imprison independent journalists. The amnesty prioritized the release of those convicted under 505(a), which criminalizes incitement.

“We welcome the release of these six Myanmar journalists, but dozens of their colleagues are still unjustly detained,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta may hold elections, but the country will never be a democracy as long as journalists are jailed and the free press is banned, harassed, and persecuted.”

Myanmar’s junta continues to hold at least 27 journalists behind bars, according to CPJ’s latest research. The releases come ahead of elections the junta plans to hold in two phases on December 28, 2025, and January 11, 2026. Rights groups have said the elections cannot be credible amid ongoing conflict, sweeping media restrictions on election reporting, and repression of dissent and opposition.

Myanmar has consistently ranked as one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists since the democracy-suspending coup, CPJ research shows.