BURMA:BURMA'S RULING military junta freed its longest-serving political prisoner and 9,002 convicts yesterday in an amnesty that state newspapers described as "a gesture of loving kindness and goodwill" ahead of planned elections in 2010.
Win Tin (78), a poet and editor who had been a close aide of Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy advocate, was released after 19 years in prison. His protracted incarceration in the notorious Insein Prison - where he was feared to be seriously ill - symbolises the worst face of the regime's persecution of opponents.
Mr Win Tin was originally arrested in 1989 for giving shelter to a girl thought to have received an illegal abortion.
While in jail, his sentence was repeatedly extended, most recently in March 1996, for writing to the United Nations about prison conditions, and circulating anti-government pamphlets to fellow inmates which the regime deemed an attempt "to incite riots".
After his release, the septuagenarian, still clad in his prison uniform, said: "I will keep fighting until the emergence of democracy in this country." Mr Win Tin said no conditions had been attached to his release. He also played down worries about his health, cited as another reason for his release.
State newspapers announced yesterday that prisoners who had displayed good "moral behaviour" had been freed so they could participate in elections planned for 2010 as part of the regime's "seven-step roadmap for democracy".
In addition to Mr Win Tin, four elderly former parliament members, ranging in age from 57 to 72, a senior NLD member, and a personal aide to Ms Suu Kyi were also released, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. However, the groups said most of the 9,002 freed in the unexpected amnesty were ordinary criminals.
- (Financial Times)