Burma announces limited cut to jail terms

17 May, 2011
Source: Bangkok Posst

Burma's military-backed government announced a limited amnesty on Monday by reducing all current prisoners' sentences by one year.

Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein speaks during a summit in Cambodia 2010. Myanmar's military-backed government announced a limited amnesty on Monday by reducing all current prisoners' sentences by one year.

The news will come as a disappointment to those calling for the release of political prisoners, after an official said earlier this month that the government was preparing to grant an amnesty to some people in jail.

A message by President Thein Sein, read out on state TV news Monday, said those who faced the death penalty would have their sentences reduced to life imprisonment.

"Prisoners will get amnesty on humanitarian grounds and through sympathy for their families," said the announcement.

There are more than 2,200 political prisoners in Burma, according to rights group Amnesty International, being held under vague laws frequently used to criminalise peaceful political activists.

Many of them face double-digit jail sentences.

Although Burma still hands out the death penalty, Amnesty describes the country as "abolitionist in practice".

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in November shortly after an election that led to the handover of power from the military to a nominally civilian government.

Her release was welcomed worldwide, but Western governments who impose sanctions on Burma have urged the government to do more to demonstrate its commitment to improving its much criticised human rights record.

Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said during a visit to Burma last week that recent signals from Burma's army-backed government were "very encouraging".

But he added that it was important to watch whether there was real progress in areas such as human rights, notably whether the government would release its political prisoners.

Rights campaigners had warned Nambiar's visit could be exploited by Burma's leaders.

Thein Sein, who was prime minister under the now-disbanded junta headed by former leader General Than Shwe, is one of a group of generals who shed their army uniforms to successfully stand in the November poll.

The election, Burma's first in 20 years, was criticised by the opposition and the West as anything but free and fair, and the military still wields considerable power in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.