Among more than 7,000 prisoners granted amnesty by Myanmar’s junta this week were about 300 political prisoners, the United Nations said on January 7.
The military junta, which seized power nearly two years ago, announced it would free 7,012 prisoners to mark the 75th anniversary of Myanmar gaining independence.
It did not specify whether the amnesty covered those jailed as part of its brutal crackdown on dissent, but the UN rights office said political prisoners were among those released.
“It’s about 300 who were political prisoners,” spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters, citing “credible sources”.
He said that so far, 195 of those cases had been verified.