Myanmar's leader commutes all death sentences a week after being installed as president

Myanmar's leader, Min Aung Hlaing, commuted all death sentences in a blanket order on Friday, one of his first official acts since the 2021 coup leader was installed as the country's civilian president. The military junta led by Hlaing snatched power in Myanmar in February 2021 and resumed executions in the country after decades of not carrying them out.

Most of these capital punishments were targeted towards dissidents opposed to his coup, the rights group said. By next year, more than 130 people will have been sentenced to death, according to the United Nations. However, a definitive figure remains unclear given the court's opaque, closed-door court system.

The new move came a week after Min Aung Hlaing was installed as the country's president after five years of the junta's rule. According to the AFP, the shift is also accompanied by rollbacks of some of the junta's post-coup crackdown measures -- steps the leadership tout as reconciliation, but which critics describe as cosmetic measures to aid the rebranding effort.

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What the move entails

A communique on behalf of Min Aung Hlaing said "those serving death sentences shall have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment", without naming specific prisoners. It is pertinent to note that an amnesty in May 2023 lifted the death sentences of 38 individual prisoners. However, it was not a blanket measure at that time.

Friday's act was announced as part of a broader amnesty to mark Myanmar's Thingyan new year, one of the country's many public holidays when forgiveness orders are regularly announced. Over 4,300 prisoners were slated for release, the statement said, alongside 179 foreign nationals, while all sentences under 40 years were slashed by one-sixth.

Since the coup, more than 30,000 people have been detained for political reasons, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Myanmar's most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains detained incommunicado. She is currently serving a 27-year sentence, which rights groups have denounced as politically motivated.