Myanmar announced a mass prisoner amnesty Tuesday, raising hope for the imminent release of hundreds of political detainees in what would be a major sign of change in the authoritarian state. The fate of the country’s estimated 2,000 political prisoners, including pro-democracy campaigners, journalists, monks and lawyers, has long been a top demand of Western nations that have imposed sanctions on Myanmar. More than 6,300 elderly, sick, disabled or well-behaved prisoners will be pardoned from Wednesday “on humanitarian grounds”, state television announced, without saying whether political prisoners would be among them. It said freeing detainees would allow them “to become nationals who can help to build a new nation”.
The news came just hours after a government-appointed human rights panel called for a pardon for what it described as the country’s “prisoners of conscience”, in a rare official acknowledgement of their existence. Many were sentenced to decades in prison and have endured “torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” according to Amnesty International. Their release would be arguably the clearest sign yet of change under a new leadership that has reached out to critics including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was freed in November after seven straight years of detention.
