Burma’s Prisoner Release Concluded

By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Burmese Ministry of Home Affairs said that all of the 6,359 prisoners subject to the amnesty program announced this week by President Thein Sein were released on Wednesday.

The prisoners released included 220 political prisoners, which activists say is a small number compared to the around 2,000 political prisoners being held in Burmese prisons at the time of the release.

An official from the Ministry of Home Affairs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the released political prisoners were not given any special instructions and the ministry can’t say when there will be another amnesty in the future.

Toe Kyaw Hlaing, one of the leaders of a Rangoon-based group that is organizing a signature campaign for the release of political prisoners, said that many of the political prisoners that were released on Wednesday were close to finishing their sentence.

He also said that many prominent pro-democracy activists and ethnic leaders are still behind bars, and his group will make a survey of the political prisoners who remain incarcerated and will submit their results to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The remaining political prisoners could be a barricade to the government reforming and bringing democracy to the country, so we will start the signature campaign and submit the petition to President Thein Sein,” said Toe Kyaw Hlaing.

Four members of the 88 Generation Students group were included in the release on Wednesday: Ko Ko Gyi (aka) Thein Than Tun, Zaw Htet Ko Ko, Lay Lay Mon and Myint Lwin Oo (aka) Thar Gyi.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) released a statement on Thursday stating that the Thein Sein administration attempted to appease the international community by offering its second so-called amnesty. The statement said that although on the 11th of October the announcement was made that 6,359 prisoners would be released, no public information about the actual numbers released has been made accessible.

“AAPP has been monitoring the October 12 prisoner release and we have learned that 220 political prisoners have been freed so far. Many other prominent political prisoners such as Min Ko Naing, U Khun Tun Oo, U Gambira and so on were not included among those released,” the statement said.

The AAPP also said that the prisoner release was not satisfactory and that “we would like to urge the international community to persuade U Thein Sein’s government for the recognition of the existence of political prisoners, and for the unconditional release of all political prisoners under a dignified way.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special envoy on human rights in Burma, told Reuters that some of the most important dissidents had not been released, more than 1,000 prisoners of conscience remained behind bars and many more prisoners need to free before the end of the year.

“What I have seen in my last mission in August is that there are real opportunities for change and there are new institutions being built,” Quintana said, adding that he will submit a report to the UN General Assembly next Wednesday.