Myanmar releases political prisoners as foreign delegations visit

Myanmar released 69 political prisoners on Friday in an amnesty the government described as an act of "loving kindness" in line with President Thein Sein's promise to free all prisoners of conscience by the end of the year.

The amnesty is one of at least a dozen that the reformist, quasi-civilian government has granted since taking over in March 2011 from the then ruling military junta. It cuts by almost half the number of prisoners that NGO the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Myanmar estimates are still being held.

A statement from Thein Sein's office said the amnesty was decided to enable prisoners to "contribute in nation-building after realizing the loving kindness and goodwill of the state.” A panel appointed by the president is also working to release all political prisoners jailed by the junta by year-end, the statement added.

"We got the list from many sources, so we have to check if they are real political prisoners or not," said Nyan Win, a member of the panel and a senior aide to National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who herself was detained, mostly under house arrest, for 15 years.

The NLD estimates about 80 political prisoners are still incarcerated, Nyan Win said.

Friday's release, like many of the amnesties that have been announced in the past two years, coincided with the visit of a high-profile foreign delegation, this time, the European Union.

The EU, United States and other Western countries have increased aid and investment and suspended most sanctions, partly in response to Myanmar freeing hundreds of political prisoners and instituting other liberal reforms unimaginable under the juntas that ruled for 49 unbroken years.

During the military's final years in power, as many as 2,500 people, including activists, journalists, politicians and even comedians, were under detention. Many were also subjected to torture.

But rights groups delayed praise for the prisoner release until the names of those released could be verified.

"We continue to receive reports of peaceful activists and human rights defenders being harassed and at risk of imprisonment for nothing but expressing their opinion," Amnesty International said in a statement following Friday's release. "This has to end immediately, otherwise releases like the one today will be meaningless."

Meanwhile on Friday, Myanmar Buddhist monks led rallies against the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as delegates from the Muslim body toured western Rakhine state, where religious violence has racked communities.

The delegation from the world's top Islamic body is in the country to discuss the response to several bouts of anti-Muslim violence that have left some 250 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

The group is treated with deep suspicion by Buddhists in Rakhine, where communities are now almost completely segregated on religious grounds after last year's unrest, with Muslims making up the vast majority of the 140,000 people displaced.

"No OIC in Rakhine land, respect our sovereignty," one protesting monk told Agence France Presse as hundreds of demonstrators converged on the airport in the state capital Sittwe early Friday.

Myanmar remains tense after eruptions of religious unrest across the country that have cast a shadow over much-lauded reforms and caused concerns among the international community.

The OIC group, which includes the organization's chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, met Myanmar's vice president in the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday, accompanied by the ambassadors from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

In Yangon on Friday rallies against the OIC were led by hundreds of maroon-clad Buddhist monks, a sight formerly associated with brutally-suppressed peaceful rallies for democracy in 2007 known as the Saffron Revolution.

"The OIC is discriminating in giving assistance here. We believe they help only Muslims," said Rakhawuntha, a protesting monk.

Myanmar's religious violence was sparked by two rounds of unrest in Rakhine state in June and October 2012, with fighting largely between local Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Myanmar views its population of some 800,000 Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Many choose to flee the country, often boarding rickety boats that capsize off Myanmar's coast.

They are considered by the United Nations to be one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Wire services