State-run television reported that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, granted amnesties covering 5,864 prisoners from Myanmar, as well as 180 foreigners who will be deported. Mass prisoner releases are common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar.

Myanmar’s military government will release more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty marking Saturday’s 77th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Myanmar’s military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain on Saturday.