The UK’s former ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman, who was jailed for allegedly breaching immigration laws, has reportedly been released.
Myanmar media said Ms Bowman was one of a number of prisoners released “under amnesty”.
In September, Ms Bowman and her husband, Burmese artist Htein Lin, were sentenced to a year in prison for “failing to register as living at a different address” – a violation of the country’s Immigration Act.
Ms Bowman was the British ambassador to Myanmar between 2002 and 2006 and has more than three decades’ experience in the country.
At the time of their detention, she was running an organisation that promotes ethical business practices in Myanmar.
Government spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told the Voice of Myanmar and Yangon Media Group that Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota and Australian economist Sean Turnell, as well as an unidentified American, had also been released and deported.
The move came as part of a prisoner amnesty to mark the country’s National Victory Day.
There is no information about Ms Bowman’s husband.
Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi is still in jail in the country after being sentenced the same day as Ms Bowman, to three more years in prison, to add to the 17 years she is already serving, for a number of offences including alleged election fraud.
Ms Suu Kyi’s party won the country’s 2020 general election in a landslide victory, but the military seized power from the elected government on 1 February 2021, saying it acted because of alleged widespread voter fraud.