Myanmar began releasing the first of about 100 political prisoners on Friday (January 22), government officials said, days before democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is due to form a new government after an election victory in November.
The freeing of prisoners by the outgoing administration of President Thein Sein comes after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Myanmar to free all of its political prisoners during a visit on Monday (18).
Prison official told Reuters that 18 political prisoners were released from Insein Prison. They were expected to release a total of 21 people today on Friday.
But some wanted the government to free all political prisoners at the same time.
“I am not happy fully as they (the government) are releasing them separately. I want all the activists, political prisoners, students, farmers and workers still left behind in the prison.” said Aung Min Kyaw, a newly released prisoner.
Insein is one of Myanmar’s largest prisons. It is used for jailing political prisoners and is notorious for its poor conditions and bad treatment of inmates.
A senior official from the Home Ministry told Reuters that more than 100 prisoners would be freed from various detention centres across Myanmar.
Another senior official from the President’s Office said the political prisoners were being released as a commemoration of the World Buddhist Peace Conference that starts in Myanmar on Friday.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Myanmar’s incarceration of more than 2,000 journalists, activists, politicians and even comedians during decades of military rule was a key factor behind Western sanctions.
Hundreds were released by Thein Sein’s semi-civilian government, which replaced the junta in 2011 and embarked on a series of political and economic reforms.
However, human rights groups complained that many were still in jail. In December, there were 129 political prisoners incarcerated in Myanmar and 408 activists were awaiting trial for political actions, according to AAPP’s website.
“I highly believe (in the new government) that our problems will be all right because our country is now under our mother (Aung San Suu Kyi). This will be different. That’s what I believe as our mother is in power now.” said 55 year-old Bo Thein.
A new parliament dominated by Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) will sit for the first time on February 1. (Reuters)
