Myanmar’s military has reportedly released Australian economist Sean Turnell and three other foreigners under an amnesty covering 6000 prisoners to mark the country’s National Victory Day.

Government’s spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told the Voice of Myanmar and Yangon Media Group on Thursday that Mr Turnell, Toru Kubota and Vicky Bowman, as well as an unidentified American, had been released and deported.

Independent news outlet Myanmar Now said the country’s ruling military council had said the pardons were granted because it was the country’s national day.Myanmar’s state-run MRTV later confirmed the reports, but there was no immediate independent confirmation that the four foreigners had been released.

Tweet from @LeongWaiKitCNA

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 Mr Turnell’s release.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese most recently raised the case with 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.

Mr Turnell, 58, an associate professor in economics at Sydney’s Macquarie University, was working in Myanmar as an adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he was arrested in 2021 after the military seized power in a coup.

He was arrested at a hotel in Yangon five days after the military takeover, while waiting for a car to take him to the city’s international airport.

Mr Turnell had arrived back in Myanmar from Australia to take up a job with Ms Suu Kyi less than a month before he was detained. As director of the Myanmar Development Institute, he already had lived in Naypyitaw for several years.

“Safe for now but heartbroken for what all this means for the people of Myanmar. The bravest, kindest people I know. They deserve so much better,” he posted on Twitter the day after the coup.

Tweet from @SeanTurnell

He was sentenced in September to three years in prison for violating the country’s official secrets law and immigration law.

Mr Kubota, a 26-year-old Tokyo-based documentary filmmaker, was arrested on July 30 after taking images and videos of a small flash protest against the military takeover last year.

He was convicted in October by the prison court of incitement for taking part in the protest and other charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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 for failing to register her residence.

-with AAP