Burma frees dozens of political prisoners

September 19, 2012
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RANGOON, Burma – Several dozen political prisoners have been freed in Burma, opposition groups told AFP on Tuesday (September 18th). The news came as democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi launches her first US trip in two decades.

  • Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi accepts flowers as she arrives at the airport in Rangoon to embark on a trip to the United States. Burma on Tuesday (September 18th) announced an amnesty for 514 jailed political prisoners. [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]

    Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi accepts flowers as she arrives at the airport in Rangoon to embark on a trip to the United States. Burma on Tuesday (September 18th) announced an amnesty for 514 jailed political prisoners. [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]

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The Nobel laureate's tour will coincide with a separate visit to New York by President Thein Sein next week.

Analysts said the amnesty that will eventually free a total of 514 inmates was carefully timed ahead of his trip, as Washington has linked the further rollback of sanctions to the release of dissidents jailed under the former junta.

"We have confirmation that 87 political prisoners have been released," Nine Nine, of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, told AFP.

The figure was confirmed by Ant Bwe Kyaw, a leader of the 88 Generation student movement that was brutally suppressed by the junta.

"Although many political prisoners were among those released ... we cannot accept the government releasing political prisoners step by step," he said, demanding their immediate freedom.

A prisons department official said most of those freed were foreigners from China, India, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh.

Burma has already granted amnesty to hundreds of political prisoners as part of reforms responsible for a dramatic thaw in relations with the West.

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