There are more than 30 political prisoners in the country’s jails, despite President U Thein Sein’s pledge to release them all by the end of 2013, says a member of the Committee for Scrutinizing Political Prisoners.
U Ye Aung says the 33 remaining political prisoners on a list compiled by the committee are unlikely to be released this month.
“They will not be released in January because we are not sure to hold a committee meeting this month’ U Ye Aung, a former political prisoner, told Mizzima on January 20.
The committee said there were 125 political prisoners in Myanmar’s prisoners in December but most had been released under President U Thein Sein’s December 31 amnesty order.
In a speech on January 2, the president said no political prisoners remained in prison.
Another committee member, U Sai Nyint Lwin, said the circumstances of the 33 remaining detainees regarded as being political prisoners was “complicated and complex”.
“We can do nothing but wait; we do not want to embarrass the president,” U Sai Nyunt Lwin said.
The secretary of the Association of Former Political Prisoners, U Tun Kyi, criticized President U Thein Sein’s claim that no political prisoners remained in detention at the end of December.
“We can’t accept the president’s statement [on January 2]; his promise has not been fulfilled,” U Tun Kyi said.
The Committee for Scrutinizing Political Prisoners was formed by the government on February 19 last year and its 16 members include government officials and members of civil society organizations and political parties.
Committee recommendations last year resulted in 354 political prisoners being freed from April to December.
There were reported to be more than 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar’s jails before the 2010 election.
