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Burma frees 6,300 from jail but keeps most political prisoners
Financial Times - February 23, 2009
Tim Johnston, Phuket, Thailand – The authorities in Burma are in the process of releasing more than 6,300 prisoners, but human rights groups say that only a small number of them are political prisoners, including some members of the opposition National League for Democracy.
State media said the prisoners had been released for good conduct and so they could vote in elections due to be held next year.
"I don't think this is a major shift but we'll have to see over the next few days if any significant leaders are released," said Win Min, a former Burmese student leader who now lives in exile in northern Thailand.
Among the fewer than 20 political prisoners so far released are Zaw Myint Maung, who was elected to parliament in the annulled 1989 elections but was given a 20-year sentence in 1991.
A number of monks were also given their freedom after being imprisoned in 2003. Their crime was for their monastery to have rejected a donation from General Khin Nyunt, who was Burma's prime minister until he was arrested in 2004.
There does not seem to have been any amnesty for any of the hundreds of victims of a recent political crackdown, which has seen activists, bloggers, lawyers and even comedians handed long sentences and incarcerated in remote rural jails over the past few months.
The releases came shortly after a visit to Burma by Tomas Ojea Quintana, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the country. It was Mr Qunitana's second visit to Burma in six months, and he gave a downbeat assessment of the situation on the ground.
"The human rights situation in Myanmar [Burma] is still challenging," he said after his visit. "It's difficult to affirm that the human rights situation has improved."
Win Min was more blunt in his assessment. "It is one step forward and two steps back," he said. "It is good that they have been released, and good for their families, but I want to see more released over the next few days."
The new US administration has promised to review strategy towards Burma, which includes sanctions targeted at its leadership and some of its most influential business backers.
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