Buthidung, Arakan State: The Burmese military junta released 99 prisoners from Buthidung jail between September 18 to 19, according to official sources from Buthidaung.

The Buthidaung jail authorities released 24 prisoners at about 8 am and 35 prisoners at about 5 pm, on September 18, the sources said.

On September 19, the Buthidaung prison authorities released 40 prisoners at noon. Among them were five women prisoners, the sources said.

The sources didn’t mention about political prisoners, but, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP) confirmed on its website that only three political prisoners were released from Buthidaung jail today at noon.

The website also said at least 126 political prisoners were released including include 43 members of the National League for Democracy, including 3 MPs; 23 women; 12 former political prisoners; 4 monks; 4 journalists; 13 students; 10 members of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network; 6 members of the 88 Generation Students; and 1 lawyer from 24 different prisons in Burma.

On the evening of September 17, 2009 in Rangoon, state-run MRTV carried a news bulletin announcing that 7,114 prisoners were to be released “on humanitarian grounds.”  After the announcement, the authorities of Buthidaung prison released 99 prisoners.