TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Myanmar's Suu Kyi announces political prisoner release plan
Change Size
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets supporters before delivering a speech during a campaign rally of her National League for Democracy party in Yangon, Myanmar, Nov. 1, 2015. (AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
M
yanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has announced that her government plans to release all political prisoners as soon as possible, making the declaration her first act in her newly created job as state counsellor.
The declaration, posted Thursday on the Facebook page of the office of President Htin Kyaw, declared the release a priority. There are about 100 political prisoners left over from the military-backed government that was recently replaced by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in last November's election, ending a half-century of army-backed rule. She is by agreement of her party the de facto head of government, though the constitution does not allow her to be president because her two sons have British citizenship.
