Over 200 prisoners have been released from Sittwe prison in the last two days, but many are army and police deserters, said a source close to the prison authorities.
 
"On the first day of prisoner amnesty, 180 prisoners were released from Sittwe prison, and among them two-thirds are army and police deserters," the source said.
 
In Sittwe prison, there are many army and police deserters who were caught and punished with imprisonment by the army authorities.
 
According to a prison source, the authorities decided to release at least 400 prisoners from Sittwe prison, but there are no political prisoners among those being freed.
 
"We have not heard that there are prominent political prisoners in Sittwe, but some monks and democracy activists are there and they were sentenced by the authorities after last year's Saffron Revolution," a politician from Sittwe said.
 
A local source said that in Arakan State, it is typical for the authorities to detain political prisoners in Buthidaung prison, 80 miles north of Sittwe, and many democracy activists are being detained there.
 
During the last couple of weeks, the authorities moved seven young democracy activists to Buthidaung prison from Thandwe prison. All of them are from Taungup and were involved in anti-government protests there recently.
 
No information is available on how many political prisoners may be released from Buthidaung prison.