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Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw pardons more political prisoners, journalists
ABC Radio Australia - April 17, 2016
The order, signed by the President on Saturday, said the pardon of 83 prisoners was aimed at "national reconciliation and peace of mind" as part of celebrations of the Myanmar New Year.
The new Government, which is steered by veteran democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, has vowed to prioritise freeing the scores of political prisoners jailed by the country's former military leaders.
"According to our documents, 63 political prisoners are released from various prisons by the amnesty of the president," said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), though it was not immediately clear how many would be permitted to leave their cells today.
"As far as I know, (those being released) are people considered by rights groups to be political prisoners," a senior prison department official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters.
A presidential pardon published on Sunday morning said 83 people would be freed, but it did not specify how many on the list were political prisoners.
Journalists gain amnesty after chemical weapons report
Among those released were four journalists and an executive from the newspaper Unity Journal, who were sentenced to 10 years hard labour in 2014 for reporting on an alleged military chemical weapons factory, the official said. The journalists' sentence, which was later reduced to seven years, was slammed by rights groups as "outrageously harsh".
"We have been looking forward to hearing good news from this new Government," said Yarzar Oo, one of the journalists from Unity Weekly News, by phone after his release from Pakokku Prison in Magway region.
They were greeted with flowers by their families, who gathered at the prison the night before after catching wind of their release, the journalist said.
According to AAPP, amnesty was also granted to writer and former NLD information officer Htin Lin Oo, who was jailed last year for "insulting religion" in a speech that criticised rising Buddhist nationalism.
Ms Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), which took power last month after sweeping historic November polls, is stacked with ex-political prisoners once jailed for their democracy activism under the former military regime.
The army's routine jailing of dissidents was one of many repressive policies that garnered support for the party's long democracy struggle.
In his New Year speech, Htin Kyaw stressed his administration's determination to free all political activists facing prosecution.
The Government oversaw its first wave of prisoner releases earlier this month, when authorities dropped charges against nearly 200 political activists ahead of the New Year holiday. (AFP/Reuters)
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