YANGON: Over a 100 political prisoners finally got the justice they deserved as Myanmar's new de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, freed them under an amnesty ordered as her first official act.
State-run newspaper, Global New Light of Myanmar cited police as saying that 113 political detainees were freed across the country, which came along with a general amnesty for ordinary convicts ahead of Myanmar's traditional New Year festival, which is usually the occasion when prisoners are released. While the move brought Suu Kyi in good light, what also observed was the sentencing of two peace activists to two years with hard labour, on the very same day. The two men were sentenced for activities that brought them in contact with an armed ethnic rebel group battling with the central government.
A court in Mandalay sentenced Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt under a law barring associating with an unlawful organization for their contacts with the Kachin Independence Army, a guerilla group in the country's far north. Both were already sentenced in February to two years' imprisonment for immigration law violations. Both are also Muslims, a minority that has faced increasing pressure and violence in recent years in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar. However, the incident was mostly overlooked in the light of the release of prisoners, including 60 students and activists in central Myanmar who had been held for a year pending trial after being arrested for their protest against changes in education policy.
“Release of most of the student protesters is a huge step forward for human rights in Myanmar, and we are delighted that these men and women will walk free. It sends a strong message about the new government's intention to end the cycle of political arrest and detention in Myanmar,” said Laura Haigh, Myanmar researcher for the human rights group Amnesty International.
