Myanmar jail pardon
36 political prisoners among 8 500 to go free in holiday amnesty
MYANMAR President Win Myint has granted amnesty to more than 8 500 prisoners, reportedly including at least three dozen political prisoners. The amnesty, announced yesterday, coincided with Myanmar’s traditional New Year. It was granted to 8 490 Myanmar citizens and 51 foreigners. A statement from presidential spokesperson Zaw Thay said those released included the aged, people in ill health and drug offenders. None were individually named.
It also said 36 of those freed had been listed as political prisoners by the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The releases were to take place at prisons nationwide. Relatives and friends of those held waited yesterday outside the gates at Insein Prison, in the northern outskirts of Yangon, where it was expected at least 300 prisoners, including eight political detainees, would be released.
One of those freed was Saw War Lay, a member of the Karen ethnic minority who was arrested in 2006 and is serving a life sentence for his association with the Karen National Union ethnic rebel group.
“I really would like to say many thanks to the president. And I wish he will be successful in his peace process,” he said, referring to government efforts to reach an agreement with all the ethnic minorities to end decades of conflict. “But I am so sad for those prisoners who (are) still inside.”
Two Christian pastors from the Kachin minority were freed from a prison in Lashio in northern Myanmar in a more recent and high-profile case.
Last year, Pastor Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, was sentenced to over four years in prison and Baptist youth leader Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, was sentenced to over years for allegedly providing support to an ethnic armed group and defaming the military.
In the aftermath of a government offensive in northern Myanmar, they had helped journalists report on a Catholic church that was destroyed in an air strike in November 2016. Combat in the area still continues.
“We are here with both of them and the whole Baptist community is very happy to have them back,” lawyer Brang Di said.
Although called an amnesty, the action appeared to be a mass pardon, meaning it would cover only prisoners who had already been convicted. Two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, facing a high-profile freedom of the press trial for possessing secret official documents, would not be covered under the action.
Bo Kyi, secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said the group was waiting to confirm the releases. “We don’t know exactly if all 36 political prisoners will be released or not,” he said.
The group, which has extensive experience in monitoring the incarceration of political prisoners, says 54 are serving prison terms after being convicted, 74 are in detention awaiting trial, and another 120 are awaiting trial but are not detained.
The Facebook page of Deputy Information Minister Aung Hla Tun said the presidential action was taken “as a gesture of marking the Myanmar New Year and after taking into consideration the prevalence of peace of mind among the people, humanitarian concerns and friendly relations among nations”.
The release of political prisoners was a priority of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party when it took over power from a pro-military government in March 2016.