• About
  • Awards
  • Advertise
  • NWAW Events
  • Contact
  • CAREERS
  • Seattle Chinese Post

Northwest Asian Weekly

  • Community
    • Names in the News
    • Business
    • Pictorials
    • Obituaries
  • Nation
  • World
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Columns
    • On the Shelf
    • At the Movies
    • A-POP!
    • The Layup Drill
    • Wayne’s Worlds
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • Commentary
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Calendar
  • Astrology
  • Classifieds
You are here: Home / News / World News / Myanmar releases more prisoners

Myanmar releases more prisoners

November 24, 2012 By Northwest Asian Weekly Leave a Comment

By Aye Aye Win
The Associated Press

http://www.nwasianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/31_48/world_sein.jpg

Thein Sein

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s leader has ordered a new prisoner amnesty ahead of a historic visit to the country by President Barack Obama on Monday, Nov. 19.

State television said Sunday, Nov. 18 that President Thein Sein had ordered 66 detainees released, but it was not clear whether any political prisoners would be among them.

A Home Ministry official said that Thein Sein signed the amnesty order on Friday, Nov. 16, but the prisoners will be freed Monday. The official declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The presidential amnesty was the second announced this week.

On Thursday, Nov. 15, Thein Sein announced an amnesty for 452 prisoners, but the move did not include prisoners of conscience and prompted activists to step up calls for the government to release those believed to remain behind bars.

Myanmar’s government has long insisted that all prisoners are criminals and does not acknowledge the existence of political detainees. However, the reformist new government, praised for its moves toward democracy, has released hundreds of people this year who were jailed under the former military junta.

A separate press release, issued Sunday, Nov. 18, said the government would “initiate a process between the Ministry of Home Affairs and interested parties to devise a transparent mechanism to review remaining prisoner cases of concern by the end of December 2012.”

The news came one day ahead of a visit on Monday, Nov. 19 by Obama, who will become the first sitting American president to visit the once-pariah nation, also known as Burma.

Obama is due to meet Thein Sein, as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thein Sein’s administration has made freedom for political prisoners one of the centerpieces of its reform agenda. Earlier prisoner releases helped convince Western nations, including the United States, to ease sanctions they had imposed against the previous military regime.

Under the now-defunct junta, rights groups said more than 2,000 activists and government critics were wrongfully imprisoned.

Obama said Sunday, Nov. 18 in Thailand that his visit to Myanmar is an acknowledgement of the democratic transition under way, but not an endorsement of the country’s government.

Obama’s words were aimed at countering critics who say his trip to the country is premature. (end)

Filed Under: World News Tagged With: 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Myanmar, President Barack Obama, President Thein Sein, Thailand, United States, Vol 31 No 48 | November 24 - November 30, YANGON

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to our e-news

PICTORIAL: The Art of Survival

PICTORIAL: The Art of Survival

PICTORIAL: Fund the Journey — API Chaya Annual Dinner and Gala

PICTORIAL: Fund the Journey — API Chaya Annual Dinner and Gala

PICTORIAL: Hing hay park’s grand opening

PICTORIAL: Hing hay park’s grand opening

Copyright 2017 Northwest Asian Weekly. All rights reserved.