CNN: Myanmar begins prisoner release
(CNN) -- Myanmar has begun the release of what it said will eventually be more than 6,300 prisoners under a mass amnesty.
Among the inmates freed by noon Wednesday, 70 were political detainees, a rights group said.
The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said it obtained its information from staff members and political activists inside Myanmar.
Maj-Gen Hso Ten who was sentenced to 105 years in prison on sedition charges in 2005, was among those released, the group said.
Also released were some members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, the party said
Party spokesman Nyan Win said the NLD was expecting more releases later Wednesday.
About 200 NLD members are in prison, he said.
Myanmar's mass amnesty is one in a series of recent moves that could help the isolated nation normalize relations with Western nations including the United States.
Kurt Campbell, a U.S. assistant secretary of state, called it a "dramatic development" that could prompt Washington to consider improving ties. The United States imposes an embargo on arms and investment in Myanmar, once known as Burma before a military junta took over.
But Mark Farmaner, director of the London-based human rights group Burma Campaign UK, said the prisoner amnesty is part of the "mood music" created to soothe the world. Obviously, he said, the amnesty was welcome, but it was hardly signaling the government's wish for democracy.
"What's very clear is that (President) Thein Sein is willing to make more concessions in order to get sanctions lifted and get more international legitimacy," Farmaner said.
The amnesty announcement in state-run media did not make it clear how many political detainees would be included.
Amnesty International has reported that more than 2,200 political prisoners are detained in poor conditions and subjected to torture and cruel treatment.
Their release remains a key demand of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi and a priority for lifting of Western sanctions.
There was cause for optimism after a letter to Thein Sein from a new state-appointed human rights panel called for the pardon of "prisoners of conscience who do not pose a threat to the stability of state and public tranquility."
Myanmar, ruled by generals since 1962, denied for decades that political prisoners even existed.
Since Myanmar's elections in November 2010 -- the first in two decades -- its leaders have been gingerly reaching out to critics.
"Now I think it would be fair to say the elections themselves were flawed in many critical ways, and we have continuing concerns about a number of developments inside the country," Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said Monday in a lecture in Bangkok, Thailand.
"But it is also undeniably the case that there are dramatic developments under way," he said. "We have stated clearly that we are prepared for a new chapter in our relations, and we are watching carefully developments on the ground. And I think it would be fair to say we will match their steps with comparable steps, and we are looking forward over the course of the next several weeks to continuing a dialogue that has really stepped up in recent months."
Tint Swe, the head of Myanmar's state censorship, called Friday for greater press freedoms, saying his own office should be shuttered as part of government reforms, reported Radio Free Asia.
In September, Myanmar's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin held a rare, historic meeting with U.S. officials in Washington following what a U.S. State Department spokesman characterized as positive developments after years of discord over human rights and other issues.
A month earlier, Suu Kyi met with Thein Sein at the presidential residence in Naypyitaw and the two vowed to work together in the nation's interest, state media reported.
The NLD was banned from the 2010 election, but Suu Kyi is fighting to restore her party's legitimacy.
Myanmar and Western nations have been at odds for years because of Myanmar rulers' ongoing clampdown on their political foes, most notably Suu Kyi. She spent most of the past two decades in some form of detention before being released a week after last year's elections.
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