Nearly 100 prisoners were released from Burma's notorious Insein Prison on Friday afternoon, but no political prisoners were among them, sources in Rangoon said.
The international community has called for the release of all political prisoners, including pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, ahead of the country's first election in 20 years. However, only convicted criminals, most of whom had served their sentences, were released on Friday.
“Seventy were male prisoners and the rest were female,” said a source close to prison officials. “Some of them still had a month or so of their sentences left to serve. The source said that plainclothes police authorities were documenting the release of the prisoners at the gates of the prison.
Faced with a call for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners, the Burmese authorities routinely release convicted criminals and publicize their release in the state media.
The US and oppositions groups have said that the upcoming election in November will be void of legitimacy without the release of all political prisoners.
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