Medical Doctor Released from Prison in Myanmar

On 17 April, Dr. Myat Nu Khaing was released from Insein Prison as the result of a presidential pardon.

Myat Nu Khaing was arrested in October 2015 in connection with her participation in a protest in Yangon some 10 months earlier. Her arrest took place only weeks before general elections were held in the country, and as she was in the midst of campaigning for election to the Lower House of Parliament as an independent candidate in Phyu Township. Although the protest in which Myat Nu Khaing participated was a peaceful demonstration, she was charged with a number of serious offences and, in March 2016, found guilty of rioting by Dagon Township Court. She was subsequently sentenced to a one-year term of imprisonment.