The Burmese Government today announced that 651 prisoners will be freed under a new amnesty, although it is not known how many of these will be political prisoners. Min Ko Naing, a leader of the failed 1988 uprising, is the highest profile prisoner to be freed and was greeted by jubilant cheering crowds outside Yangon’s infamous Insein prison. Other prisoners also freed include those involved in the 1988 student protest movement, monks involved in the recent 2007 demonstrations and ethnic-minority activists from rebel groups.
According to BBC News reports, Htay Kywe, a student activist jailed in 2007 for 65 years has also been freed, along with Nilar Thein who was involved in the 1988 protests and her husband, Kyaw Min Yu, and U Khun Tun Oo who is the main political figure for Burma’s Shan ethnic minority group. Khin Nyunt, former Prime Minister who has been under house arrest since a governmental purge in 2004 who was detained in a purge in 2004 has also been released.
These releases have come a day after the government has signed a landmark ceasefire with the Karen National Union (KNU), Burma’s largest rebel ethnic minority group with its armed wing the Karen National Liberation Army.
The last year has seen the Burmese government making moves to towards political change, including freeing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, and welcoming visits from high profile international figures and politicians including Hilary Clinton and William Hague. When Clinton visited Burma last month, she said the US could forge future ties with Burma’s leaders if they kept “moving in the right direction”.
All of these signs have pointed to slow but sure coming to Burma and hopes both in Burma and abroad have been renewed in terms of this too.
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