The UN says 195 of those cases have been verified so far. Read more at straitstimes.com.
announced on Wednesday it would free 7,012 prisoners to mark the 75th anniversary of Myanmar gaining independence.But the UN rights office said political prisoners were among those released.
“It’s about 300 who were political prisoners,” spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters, citing “credible sources”.Local monitoring group AAPP also said it understood 300 political prisoners had been released. It had identified 223 of them and was working to verify other cases. “The release of political prisoners in Myanmar is not only a relief to those unfairly detained, but also their families,” Laurence said.
While welcoming the amnesty, Mr Laurence pointed out that “on the very day that these political prisoners were released, another 22 were detained.And many of the people being detained for opposing military rule, he said, “have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment”. “Such detentions are not only intended to silence the junta’s critics, but are also designed to instil fear.”More than 13,000 remain in detention, Mr Laurence said.“The pathway out of Myanmar’s crisis is not by locking people up, it is by allowing them to freely, fully and effectively participate in political life,” he said. AFP