Myanmar urged to free more political prisoners

Jan 8, 2012, 5:55 GMT

Yangon - Political prisoners released under an amnesty last week urged Myanmar's government to free more prisoners of conscience to demonstrate its commitment to reform, a report said Sunday.

A total of 6,656 inmates, mostly common criminals, were freed from prison on January 3, while nearly 40,000 others had their sentences reduced, state media said.

Estimates of political prisoners freed under the amnesty ranged from 10 to more than 30, according to the weekly Myanmar Times.

The paper quoted U Kyi Than, 52, a political prisoner released from Insein Prison in Yangon, as urging President Thein Sein to make further moves toward reconciliation.

'I believe the president is moving towards democracy,' Kyi Than said. 'We were imprisoned under martial law. We didn't commit any crime but were arrested for involvement in politics. Now it has changed and we are in an era of democracy so I would like to request the president to free all the political prisoners.'

Kyi Than, who was sentenced to nine years in 2007 under laws banning gatherings of more than five people, described conditions at Insein Prison as 'terrible,' but forgave those who imprisoned him.

'A lot of my brothers and leaders are still inside,' he said.

The United States, Britain and other Western countries say the release of several hundred political prisoners is a key condition to ending economic sanctions.

A civilian government packed with former army officers took power in March, promising more democratic rule and an end to human rights abuses by the military that ruled the country since 1962.

Under the January 2 amnesty order, death sentences were commuted to life sentences, jail terms above 30 years were reduced to 30 years, those serving 20 to 30 years were cut to 20 years and prisoners serving less than 20 years were cut by a quarter.