CNN: Myanmar begins prisoner release

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.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/12/world/asia/myanmar-prisoner-release/?hpt=wo_c2

World News - Torture at Afghan prisons commonplace: UN

KABUL: Afghanistan’s intelligence agency and police force have been “systematically” torturing detainees including children at a number of jails, in breach of local and international laws, a United Nations report said on Monday.

Scores of people told the UN that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the Afghan National Police had physically or mentally abused them, using beatings, electrocution and toenail removal, according to the report.

But the head of the UN in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said that torture was neither institutional nor government policy, and praised the ministry and intelligence agency for allowing access to their prisons for research.

The Afghan government rejected many of the allegations, but conceded there may have been some abuse, and added that steps were being taken to prevent further problems.

Interviews with 379 pre-trial detainees and convicted prisoners were conducted at 47 different facilities by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from October 2010 to August 2011.

The report said 324 of the detainees were accused of crimes related to the war.

There was systematic torture found at five NDS “facilities”, the report said, and “multiple, credible allegations” of torture at two others. There were also some allegations from 17 other facilities that the UN said it was still investigating.

Almost half of those interviewed were suspected insurgents, 20 percent were arrested while carrying explosives and 11 percent were failed suicide bombers.

UNAMA said almost half of those it interviewed at NDS facilities experienced interrogation techniques that constituted torture. Of those in police facilities, more than a third of the 117 suspected insurgents or those believed to be assisting militants told UNAMA they had been subjected to torture or inhumane treatment.

Beyond physical mistreatment, which included sexual humiliation, many prisoners also said they had been held beyond the maximum duration allowed by law and denied family visits.

The United Nations said Afghanistan’s difficult security situation did not justify any mistreatment.

False claims, or insurgent propaganda?

The intelligence agency said in an official response that “reference has been made to some issues that are not in conformity with work principles of the NDS,” and specifically rejected some allegations of mistreatment.

“Torture methods such as electric shock, threat of rape, twisting of sexual organs etc. are methods that are absolutely non-existent in the NDS,” an official government response said.

The statement suggested some insurgent prisoners might be making false claims to discredit the government. However it also said several officials had recently been dismissed or suspended, and the agency was “keen for reform and improvement in the field of interrogation”.

UNAMA said it had designed its study to take into account concerns from the Afghan authorities that detainees might give false accounts to discredit security agencies and further insurgent propaganda.

The Interior Ministry accepted there were cases of poor treatment of detainees in police custody, but said they were in the minority and it was committed to punishing violators and ensuring police were trained to protect human rights.

“It is evident … that the outcome of the report cannot be totally rejected/denied due to some existing problems,” it said.

The report follows a similar UN investigation into alleged torture that prompted NATO to halt transfers of prisoners to several southern Afghan jails in July.

Those findings raised questions about the capacity of Afghan security forces at a time when they are meant to be taking on greater security responsibilities ahead of a planned withdrawal of all foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/271012/torture-at-afghan-prisons-commonplace-un/