Irrawaddy-Apr 18
Only a small fraction of the more than 3,000 prisoners released from the country’s jam-packed prisons by the junta’s conditional amnesty on Wednesday were political prisoners, according to data from the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar. Just 101 of the 3,303 prisoners released to mark Myanmar’s New Year, or about 4 percent of the total, were political prisoners, the data released on Thursday showed. Even if all of those released in the amnesty had been political prisoners, they would only have accounted for a fraction of the number locked up. The number of political prisoners in Myanmar has surged to an historic high since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup. Prior to this date, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners had about 3,500 verified political prisoners in its database. Now it has about 30,000. The Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar said only 18 of the 900 prisoners released from Yangon’s infamous Insein Prison on Wednesday were political prisoners. Of the about 480 prisoners released from five prisons and six labor camps in Mandalay Region, only about 10 were political prisoners, former political prisoners said. Only seven political prisoners – five women and two men – were released from one of the biggest jails in Mandalay Region, Myingyan Prison. The Irrawaddy has learned that only 13 political prisoners were released from prisons in Lashio, Meiktila, Myeik, Dawei, Myitkyina, Pathein, and Pyay towns. Most had been jailed under Section 505 of the Penal Code. Since the coup, the junta has jailed at least 26,524 people on political charges and more than 20,350 of them remain behind bars, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has a database of political prisoners whose status it has verified. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/new-year-old-tactic-myanmar-juntas-amnesty-skips-political-prisoners.html
