The easing of restrictions on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly led people to assert these rights, with increasing demands for freedom, justice and accountability. Politically motivated arrests did not stop entirely, however, the patterns differed from before. While activists were still arrested, there were often fewer charges, filed under new legislation governing peaceful protests; terms of imprisonment were much shorter; and often people were fined rather than imprisoned. Greater press and internet freedoms also made obtaining information about politically motivated arrests much easier. One of the most striking changes is in the treatment of political prisoners, who Amnesty International’s research indicates, are no longer routinely tortured as they were under the military government. In July 2013 President Thein Sein announced his government’s intention to release all prisoners of conscience, stating that none would be in jail by the end of the year.21 This was followed on 30 December 2013 by the announcement of a wide-ranging Presidential pardon for all individuals who had been convicted, or whose cases were being heard, or who were undergoing investigation for acts committed on or before 31 December 2013 under seven repressive laws.22 Scores of activists and human rights defenders were either released or had the charges against them dropped as a result of the pardon. Hopes were high that the cycle of imprisonment, release and re-arrest had finally come to an end. Hope soon faded however, when it became clear that not all prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners had been released.23 Moreover, political arrests resumed within days of the pardon. Since then, hundreds of individuals have been arrested, detained and imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, creating a new generation of prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.24 Worryingly, Amnesty International’s research indicates an intensification of politically motivated arrests, detentions and imprisonment since the start of 2014, with a resurgence in the use of oppressive, military eralaws, and increasing use of new laws, such as the Peaceful Assembly Act and the Telecommunications Law. The use of these laws is coupled with abusive tactics allowing the authorities to detain and imprison peaceful activists for long periods of time. The new NLD-led government coming into power at the end of March represents an important opportunity to reverse this trend. Transcript: Myanmar’s Complex Transformation: Prospects and Challenges, HE Thein Sein, President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, 15 July 2013, available at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/public/Meetings/Meeting%20Transcripts/150713Sein.pdf, accessed 13 January 2016. 22 Presidential Pardon (Order No. 51/2013). The seven laws identified were the 1908 Unlawful Associations Act; Penal Code Sections 122 (“Treason”), 124(a) (“Sedition”), and 505(b) (inciting people to commit acts against the state or public tranquillity); the Law to Safeguard the State from the Danger of Subversive Elements; Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law; and the 1950 Emergency Act. A second Presidential Pardon (Order No. 1/2014), reducing remaining prison sentences for all detainees – including political prisoners – was announced on 2 January 2014. 23 Prisoners of conscience Tun Aung and Kyaw Hla Aung, both Muslim leaders from Rakhine State, where the persecuted Rohingya minority live and who were imprisoned on politically motivated charges in 2012 and 2013 respectively remained behind bars. 24 Amnesty International, Going back to the old ways: A new generation of prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, (Index: ASA 16/2457/2015), 8 October 2015 (Amnesty International, Going back to the old ways). 21 NEW EXPRESSION MEETS OLD REPRESSION ENDING THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENT IN MYANMAR Amnesty International 14