Prisoner Release Reportedly Under Way

The first of the nearly 4,000 prisoners Burma’s junta promised Thursday night to release were freed Friday, according to sources in Rangoon.

Families of some political prisoners, together with Western diplomats, were gathering Friday in front of Rangoon’s Insein Prison, the sources said.

Insein Prison in Rangoon.

Three National League for Democracy Members of Parliament are among those released from Insein Prison, a former NLD member in Rangoon said in a telephone interview. They are: Ohn Maung, ex-Col Kyaw San and Toe Bo.

Unconfirmed sources said that the prominent journalist Win Tin, former aide to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, would be released. He was jailed in 1989.

The Irrawaddy’s informant said other elderly and prominent prisoners were expected to be released later.

Burma’s junta announced Thursday night that 3,937 prisoners would be released because they had been punished improperly by the recently dissolved National Intelligence Bureau, or NIB.

The decision to free the prisoners came after the military government dissolved the NIB and its law on Oct 22, claiming it was no longer suitable for the welfare of the public. The bureau was dissolved days after Chief of the NIB and Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt was arrested on charges of corruption.

Tate Naing, secretary of the Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, or AAPP, said that his organization had been informed that 11 political prisoners were also released on Friday from Mandalay Prison.

“All political prisoners must be released in accordance with their (the junta’s) announcement, because no political prisoner was sentenced properly,” said Tate Naing.

At least 1,400 political prisoners are currently being held in jails across the country, according to the AAPP.

“We can’t yet welcome the junta’s move,” said Tate Naing. “We have to wait and see how many prisoners they will release. We have already had enough experience in the past.”

Since 1988, when the military began arresting thousands of dissidents, the junta has announced several limited amnesties, but only relatively few political prisoners were freed. Sources say that the overwhelming majority of the 600 or so amnestied prisoners had been jailed for minor offences.