Key points
- Australian economist Sean Turnell was arrested in Myanmar in 2021.
- He had been working as an adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
- Nearly 6,000 other prisoners in Myanmar have also been released.
Myanmar's military has released Australian economist Sean Turnell and three other foreigners under an amnesty covering 5,774 prisoners to mark the country's National Victory Day.
Government spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told the Voice of Myanmar and Yangon Media Group on Thursday that Professor Turnell, Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota and ex-British diplomat Vicky Bowman, as well as American Kyaw Htay Oo, had been released and deported.
Myanmar's state-run MRTV later confirmed the reports on Thursday.
Who is Sean Turnell?
, 58, who holds an honorary position in the Department of Economics at Sydney's Macquarie University, was working in Myanmar as an adviser to when arrested in 2021 after the .
In September he was sentenced to three years in prison for violating the country's official secrets law and immigration law.
Sean Turnell was an adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi (right) when he was arrested in 2021. Source: Facebook
"His heart was in the right place. He was trying to improve the lives of ordinary people in Myanmar," Professor Harcourt Sky News.
"Thank goodness he's been released now.
"The priority for Sean is to get back and be with his wife. Let's hope he can get home and recover."
Who else was released?
Mr Turnell, Mr Kubota, Ms Bowman, and Kyaw Htay Oo, as well as 11 local Myanmar celebrities, were among a total of 5,774 prisoners who were being released, MRTV reported.
The imprisonment of the foreign nationals had been a source of friction between Myanmar's leaders and the prisoners' home governments, which had been lobbying for their release.
Mr Kubota was arrested on 30 July by plainclothes police in Yangon after taking images and videos of a small flash protest against the military. He was convicted last month by the prison court of incitement for participating in the protest and other charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Mr Kubota was the fifth foreign journalist detained in Myanmar after the military seized power. United States citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, who worked for local publications, and freelancers Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan were eventually deported before having to serve full prison sentences.
Ms Bowman, 56, a former British ambassador to Myanmar was arrested with her husband, a Myanmar national, in Yangon in August. She was given a one-year prison term in September by the prison count for failing to register her residence.
Kyaw Htay Oo, a naturalised American, returned to Myanmar, the country of his birth, in 2017, according to media reports. He was arrested in September 2021 on terrorism charges and had been in custody ever since.
How have Australian politicians reacted?
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia welcomed the reports.
"Professor Turnell continues to be our first priority ... as such, we will not be commenting further at this stage," she wrote on Twitter.
Independent federal MP and former ABC foreign correspondent Zoe Daniel said she had received corroborated information about the release.
"Holding breath with relief and hope for his health and well-being," she tweeted.
Ms Daniel has been a consistent advocate for Prof Turnell's release.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese most recently raised the case with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit on Saturday.
"I do want to thank Vietnam for your advocacy for Professor Sean Turnell, who has been detained in Myanmar," he said at the time.
Pro-democracy protesters marching in Myanmar on 4 December 2021. Credit: SOPA Images/Sipa USA
What's happening in Myanmar?
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the takeover, which led to nationwide protests that the military government quashed with deadly force, triggering armed resistance that some United Nations experts now characterise as civil war.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a rights monitoring organisation, 16,232 people have been detained on political charges in Myanmar since the army ousted the democratically elected government of Ms Suu Kyi last February.
Of those arrested, 13,015 were still in detention as of Wednesday, the AAPP reported. Additionally, at least 2465 civilians have been killed by security forces in the same period, the group says, though the number is thought to be far higher.
