Burma Prisoners Released, Although Not as Many as Some Expected
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October 12, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Hundreds of people, including many political prisoners, have been released on Wednesday in Burma as part of a government amnesty.
Former prisoner and pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says more than 100 political prisoners have been released so far, including popular comedian Zarganar. However, many organisations are disappointed with the relatively small amount of political prisoners being released.
The government have said they will release 6,359 prisoners said to be of “old age, suffering poor health and disability [and] whose moral behaviour has improved after serving an appropriate amount of time”.
The freeing of prisoners may sound encouraging for the people of Burma, but Zarganar - who was arrested in 2008 after publicly criticising the response to Cyclone Nargis - told the BBC that he is worried that he could be imprisoned again for speaking out against the government.
“If I do something wrong they will send me back. I’m not happy today because there are so many of my friends still in prison,” he said.
A spokesperson from Burma Campaign UK told The Fresh Outlook that the release of prisoners today was a lot less than expected: “We are extremely disappointed about the small number of political prisoners that have been released. These sorts of releases happen in Burma every year or two; this time with all the talk that the Burmese government were reforming there was an expectation that there would be many more political prisoners released. So far we have less than 200 confirmed released political prisoners, this could go up to 300, but this will still leave over a thousand political prisoners in jail.”
The spokesperson told The Fresh Outlook that the release of prisoners has alleviated pressure on the Burmese government, but it does not show true reform as promised when taking office from the previous military regime. The organisation also stated that the release of prisoners was merely to cover up other incidents that are taking place in the Asian country to release them from sanctions imposed by the UN.
“They’re very good at playing this game with the international community; if you look at the amount of positive media coverage they’re received in recent months it is largely down to a few token measures and a few kind words. The reality is that they’ve increased tax against ethnic minorities and the Burmese army is going around gang raping women and children, but they’ve managed to play the political game so well that they’re getting positive coverage and praise from the national community so they can be released them from sanctions.”
Human rights organisation Human Rights Watch says the Burmese government could still detain anyone who protests against the government.
“The laws that put them [political prisoners] behind bars are still on the books and can be used again at any time. If the government wants to show it is really different from its predecessors, it should convene parliament and repeal laws criminalising peaceful political speech,” said Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director.
By Ben Perks
[Image courtesy of Htoo Tay Zar]
