News reports indicate that on October 12th, 2011 the regime in Burma released 200 political prisoners from detention as part of an amnesty program for over 6,000 prisoners in Burma, continuing the Burmese regime’s pattern of superficial political moves.
On October 11 2011, President Than Sein announced that he had signed an order to release 6,259 inmates from the country’s prisons, prompting widespread speculation and hope that the release would include amnesty for the estimated 2,000 political prisoners incarcerated in prisons and work camps across Burma. October 12th dawned, and with it the release of roughly 200 political prisoners, including Burmese comedian Zarganar, arrested in 2008 for criticizing the government’s response to Cyclone Nargis. Several well-known organizers of country-wide protests in 1988 and 2007 remained in prison.
The EU announced that Burma is on “the cusp of change”, but is it really? As long as the regime in Burma continues to ignore the presence of the thousands of prisoners of conscience incarcerated within the country’s prison system, aand the rights of legitimate political adversaries, it furthers the legacy of repression and abuse it inherited on election day.
For further reading, see:
Challenges Ahead for Aung San and Democracy in Burma
Neither Free nor Fair – Burma’s Sham Elections
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And it’s not just Burma too! All over the world there are prisoners of conscience whose conscience just happens to be different from the (governmental) norm.