Ban welcomes release of political prisoners, calls for more
Posted on September 25, 2008
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Win Tin released after 19 years
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has described the release of a handful of political prisoners by the Burmese junta as a ‘welcome’ move and called for the release of all political prisoners in the country.
On Tuesday, Burma released seven political prisoners as part of a general amnesty under which 9002 prisoners were released. Among those released were U Win Tin, a journalist, who is Burma’s longest serving political prisoner (see: Burma’s longest serving political prisoner released).
A spokesperson for Ban said, “The Secretary-General reiterates that all political prisoners should be released and that all citizens of Myanmar should be able to enjoy political freedoms, as necessary steps towards the process of national reconciliation and dialogue.”
Also released on Tuesday were, Dr. May Win Myint, U Aung Soe Myint, U Khin Maung Swe, Win Htain, Dr. Than Nyein and U Thein Naing.
Amnesty International estimates there are 2,000 political prisoners being detained in Burma.
Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty’s Myanmar researcher said, “While the release of U Win Tin and his fellow prisoners is certainly the best news to come out of Myanmar for a long time, unfortunately they don’t even represent one percent of the political prisoners there.”
“These seven people should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and there are many, many more who should also be released.”
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