Myanmar’s junta has announced the release of more than 800 prisoners from various prisons. They will be released under a general amnesty on the occasion of Union Day. Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement. News AFP.
Myanmar celebrates 12 February every year as Union Day, commemorating the historic Penglong Agreement signed in 1948. Today marks the 75th anniversary of Saturday.
A statement issued today by the junta said that 614 prisoners would be released under a general amnesty on the occasion of the country’s Union Day diamond jubilee celebrations on February 12.
Janta spokesman J Min Tun told AFP that more prisoners would be released from various prisons in Yangon under the amnesty this year. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
Shaun, an economics professor, served as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s ousted pro-democracy leader. He was arrested just days after a military coup in the country last year. He is accused of violating Myanmar’s state secrecy laws. If convicted, Shawn Turnell could face up to 14 years in prison.
Last year, the junta released about 23,000 prisoners on the occasion of Union Day. At the time, some human rights groups feared that the move was aimed at reducing hostilities and creating chaos in society.
Protests erupted after a military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021. The Myanmar army launched a large-scale crackdown on protesters. More than 1,500 civilians have been killed in the past year, according to AFP, citing a local watchdog group. About 12,000 people have been arrested.
The Brazilian portion of the world-famous Amazon forest was cut down last January. Deforestation has increased several times compared to a year ago. The data were obtained from deforestation in the Amazon, based on satellite imagery from Brazil’s state-run space agency. News from the BBC
Last month, five times more trees were cut down in the Amazon than in January 2021, the highest in a single month since 2015, when deforestation was recorded.
A total of 430 square kilometers (18 square miles) of deforestation was reported in January, seven times larger than New York’s Manhattan.
Environmentalists are blaming President Jair Bolsonaro for allowing deforestation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon. The BBC says: ‘Climate change is now a major crisis in the world. “If we want to deal with this crisis, we need to protect the Amazon.”
In addition to timber, deforestation is being done to supply food to various food production companies around the world.
At the COP28 climate conference in Glasgow, UK last year, hundreds of governments pledged to stop deforestation and plant trees by 2030.
Environmentalists say the satellite image of the Brazilian space agency Inp has once again raised questions about the Brazilian government’s commitment to protecting the world’s largest evergreen forest.
The environmental group Greenpeace has explained this by highlighting the data of Majetti’s inp in Christiania, Brazil. He spoke in support of the US Alliance, but said that maintaining some independence was not the answer.