Myanmar completes release of 9,000 prisoners

BURMA: YANGON: Myanmar has completed its mass release of more than 9,000 prisoners, a prison department source said on Saturday, amid opposition claims the move would be meaningless without the freeing of more dissidents.

The prison department source said all 9,248 prisoners promised freedom had been released by late last Friday, although the comment could not be independently checked.

All the listed prisoners in the announcement were released. The regime said last Thursday through state media it would free 5,311 prisoners on top of the 3,937 planned releases announced a week earlier.

But there has so far been no accurate independent verification of the numbers released. [?] Several hundred were freed in the past week including fewer than 30 dissidents, according to the opposition and witnesses.

Another 10 dissidents were among the second batch freed, said Myanmar officials. The National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party had been hoping for freedom for 400 dissidents in the first set of releases alone.

"I am quite disappointed but I continue to hope that more such official announcements of prisoner releases will follow, especially political prisoners," NLD spokesman U Lwin said.

U Lwin said, "If the junta did not commit itself to the release of greater numbers of political prisoners all of this would be meaningless. The timing of the release coincided with a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which starts in Laos on Monday.

Political developments in member country Myanmar are expected to be a major focus of the meeting. The junta has said the prisoners were wrongly imprisoned by an intelligence bureau disbanded after the sacking and arrest of former premier Khin Nyunt last month. He was also the head of military intelligence for two decades.

Most prisoners were petty criminals, according to the junta, which has so far refused to name the handful of political prisoners also freed. However, Myanmarâs foreign minister Major-General Nyan Win said Friday the release list did not include Win Tin, 74, one of Myanmarâs best-known journalists and a prominent opposition figure.

The ailing writer has been behind bars for 15 years and has been the subject of a long freedom campaign by rights groups and the United Nations. The most famous dissident so far known to have been released was Min Ko Naing, the leader of 1988 student protests, who was released a week ago. Among those released Friday from Insein prison, the countryâs largest jail, and a prison in the northern city of Mandalay were six political dissidents, according to the NLD which is headed by detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. afp

By Vicki Chartrand posted 30 November 04

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Suu Kyi's house arrest extended

Burma's opposition party says its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has had her house arrest extended for another 12 months until September next year.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been held by the military government since May 2003 after an assassination attempt in northern Burma.

The extension of her detention comes a month after the appointment of the man behind the attack, General Soe Win, as prime minister.

Recently the regime announced plans to release up to 9,000 prisoners, but only a handful are classified as political detainees.

Observers say that announcement was timed to ease pressure on the military in the lead up to the ASEAN leaders summit currently under way in Laos.

In line with its policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states, the ASEAN summit's final communique makes no mention of the lack of political reform in Burma.

By In Solidarity 30 November 04

England tops the EU in imprisonment

England and Wales jail more offenders per capita than any other European, Union country, according to new figures. The imprisonment rate of 141 per 100,000 makes the countries the prison capital of Europe for the second year running.

The data, published by the World Prison Population List, shows that the courts jail proportionately more people than Libya, Burma and Turkey, although it lags way behind the US, which at 701 per 100,000 has the highest jail population rate. France imprisons 93 per 100,000 of its citizens while Germany jails 98.

On January 4, the English and Welsh prison population stood at 73,688 inmates, [prisoners], a rise of 2,729 in the past year, 25,000 up over the last decade. If that trend continues, the Home Office predicts a jail population of up to 109,000 by 2014.

By far the biggest surge lies within the female prison population. Ten years ago, there were 1,811 women in prison. By last month, the figure had risen to 4,307, an increase of 140% in a decade.

The magistrates courts have made the largest contribution. According to The Prison Reform Trust, a woman is now seven times more likely to be jailed by the lower courts, than she would have been in 1991.

Custodial sentencing means 81 out of the 138 prisons are now officially overcrowded, but that this has failed to reduce levels of re-offending.

Of those freed from prison, more than half re-offend within two years. The figure has risen to 80% among young offenders.

The Social Exclusion Unit recently revealed that re-offending costs the country £11bn a year

Commenting on the figures, Juliet Lyons, Director of The Prison Reform Trust, said: "Holding the western European record for jailing people is nothing to be proud of, particularly since most return to crime after release.

"Our prisons have become social dustbins and the only way to kick this costly habit is to invest in effective drug treatment, mental health care and community sentencing."

A Home Office spokesman said: "As we have said many times, those people that commit serious offences - sexual offences, violent offences, those against children - should go to prison for a long period of time, but for those who commit more minor offences we should and do use non-custodial sentences and that is something we have been advocating for a while."

BY Eric Allison posted 3 February 04

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