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Burma Prisoner Release Includes Prominent Comedian
BBC NEWS, ASIA-PACIFIC
October 12, 2011: The authorities in Burma have released dozens of prisoners, including political detainees, at the start of a general amnesty. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says more than 100 political prisoners have been released so far. A popular comedian, Zarganar, was among the first to be freed. He was arrested in 2008 after publicly criticizing the response to Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 140,000 people.
Speaking to the BBC shortly after his release, Zarganar was wary of his newfound freedom, describing it as conditional. "If I do something wrong they will send me back," he said. "I'm not happy today," he said, "because there are so many of my friends still in prison."
Leaders of a failed uprising in 1988 are reportedly still in jail. The government said on Tuesday that more than 6,000 prisoners would be freed but it was unclear how many would be political detainees. A list of those to be released has not been published.
Political prisoners
A spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), Nyan Win, said that as far as he knew about 120 political prisoners had been released. A number of monks are thought to be among those freed, but there are conflicting reports about whether they include one of the monks' leaders, Shin Gambira. He led street protests in 2007, which were crushed by the previous military government. Early reports that he had been released were later denied by some activists.
Western nations currently impose sanctions on Burma, and one of the key reasons is political prisoners. Thought to number about 2,000, they include journalists, pro-democracy activists, government critics, monks involved in anti-government protests in 2007 and members of Burma's ethnic groups fighting for greater autonomy.
'One of the barometers'
Burma announced an amnesty of 15,000 prisoners in May 2011 and freed more than 7,000 in 2009 - but those moves were criticized by rights groups for failing to include political prisoners.
Burma held its first elections in two decades almost a year ago - polls which saw military rule replaced with a military-backed civilian-led government. Since then the government has freed Aung San Suu Kyi and held a dialogue with her.
But Nyan Win of the NLD told the BBC that a prisoner release was not all that was needed. "The release of political prisoners is just one of the barometers of the government's seriousness about a change to democracy," he said. "There should be other developments like media freedom, and the relaxation of censorship among other things."
The BBC's South-East Asia correspondent, Rachel Harvey, says pro-democracy activists, human rights organizations and western diplomats are likely to scrutinize carefully the list of those released on Wednesday and tailor their response accordingly.
