MYANMAR ANNOUNCES AMNESTY FOR 7,114 PRISONERS
YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar's junta has granted amnesty to 7,114 convicts at prisons across the country, but it was not immediately known if they included political detainees.
Source: AP
- State television, which announced the amnesty Thursday evening, said the prisoners would be released for good behavior and on humanitarian grounds.
- Myanmar held more than 65,000 prisoners in mid-2007, according to the most recent figures available from the Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators.
- Those to be released were not identified. Previous mass releases have usually included a handful of political detainees. They are usually identified when they report to opposition groups, which then announce their release.
- The country's best-known political prisoner is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.
- The United Nations and independent human rights groups estimate that the military regime holds more than 2,200 political prisoners, though the government insists that all detainees have been convicted of criminal offenses.
- The government generally grants amnesties to mark important national days, but most of the recipients are petty criminals. The last release was in February this year when 6,313 prisoners were freed, including less than two dozen political prisoners.
- It was not clear if the releases started Thursday. Friday is the 21st anniversary of the 1988 seizure of power by the current junta to quash vast pro-democracy demonstrations.
- An amnesty had been expected since July, when Myanmar's envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council that the government was preparing such a move to allow prisoners to participate in elections next year, the first in two decades.
- The amnesty comes just ahead of the opening of this year's U.N. General Assembly session, which will be attended by Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein, the highest-ranking government leader in recent years to participate.
- The junta's powerful deputy chairman, Senior Gen. Maung Aye, attended the 50th anniversary General Assembly session in 1995, but the occasion is usually left to the foreign minister.
- Human Rights Watch launched a campaign Wednesday for Myanmar's military government to release all political prisoners before the elections.
- Among those imprisoned in the past two years include people involved in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 and in assisting the victims of a devastating cyclone in 2008. The group said some were handed decades-long sentences.
- It said the country has 43 known prisons holding political activists and more than 50 labor camps.
DID THE CYCLONE NARGIS CHANGE BURMA'S JUNTA?
Children of Burma displaced by Cyclone Nargis
The world may had forgotten Burma . However the ruling military junta changed its name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, a year after thousands were killed in the suppression of a popular uprising. Rangoon also became Yangon. The country is still facing sanctions by UN and EU since 2006. The Sanction include a travel ban on the country's top officials, an arms embargo and a freeze of Burmese assets in Europe.
From bad to worse when Cyclone Nargis tore through 
Burma's delta region this time last year, it left 140,000 people dead and two million others without food, shelter or a way to earn a living.
But perhaps the most shocking aspect of the disaster was the military government's indifference to the suffering of its own people.
The ruling generals said Burma did not need "chocolate bars donated by foreign countries", and refused to allow aid into the region for nearly three weeks.
The international community was appalled, and eventually after intense diplomatic lobbying Burmese leaders were persuaded to accept foreign assistance.
A full-scale aid operation got under way, and the world heaved a collective sigh of relief.
Burma's delta region this time last year, it left 140,000 people dead and two million others without food, shelter or a way to earn a living.But perhaps the most shocking aspect of the disaster was the military government's indifference to the suffering of its own people.
The ruling generals said Burma did not need "chocolate bars donated by foreign countries", and refused to allow aid into the region for nearly three weeks.
The international community was appalled, and eventually after intense diplomatic lobbying Burmese leaders were persuaded to accept foreign assistance.A full-scale aid operation got under way, and the world heaved a collective sigh of relief.
A year later this aid operation is still in full swing, and while lots of people remain dependant on outside help, most have now been given some form of assistance.
The government has not spent much of its own money on the relief effort, but at least it has mainly left the aid agencies to their own devices, enabling them to distribute supplies throughout the region.
Courtesy: BBC
The government has not spent much of its own money on the relief effort, but at least it has mainly left the aid agencies to their own devices, enabling them to distribute supplies throughout the region.
Courtesy: BBC
BURMA SHOULD FREE 2,100 POLITICAL PRISONERS
Tomas Ojea Quintana, United Nations official on human rights in Burma, says Burma's military rulers should free more than 2,100 political prisoners they are holding before elections next year.Tomas Ojea Quintana says Burma must release prisoners of conscience to ensure the election and its aftermath comply with international standards of a democratic society. His recommendation is part of report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Quintana says Burma's government should not impose conditions on released dissidents, such as making them sign statements renouncing the right to political activism. He also says prisoners awaiting release should be spared from cruel treatment and receive urgent medical care.
The U.N. special rapporteur based his report on a visit to Burma last month. He says he found that many dissidents were sentenced in close-door hearings without legal representation, without the presence of relatives and without proof of evidence or with defective evidence.Quintana also says reliable sources informed him that lawyers defending dissidents were imprisoned for contempt of court -- an offense that Burmese law leaves open to interpretation by the courts.
Burma's military rulers released 6,313 prisoners last month in a general amnesty, including 29 prisoners of conscience. Qintana says the release of the dissidents is welcome but lacks proportionality.
The most prominent of the remaining 2,100 political prisoners is opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 13 of the last 19 year.
Courtesy: Turkey Weekly
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