Military-ruled Myanmar is to free 7,114 prisoners in an amnesty, state television said Thursday, but it was not clear if any political detainees would be released. State television said the prisoners were being freed on "humanitarian grounds" starting from Thursday but did not give details of their identities.
The amnesty was to mark the anniversary on Friday of a military coup that followed the crushing of a 1988 student pro-democracy uprising. The junta has released a handful of dissidents during previous amnesties but most of those freed are usually common criminals.
The National League for Democracy of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who had her house arrest extended by 18 months in August, was not immediately available to say whether any of its members had been freed. The announcement of the amnesty comes a day after Human Rights Watch said the number of political prisoners in Myanmar had soared to more than 2,200. The New York-based group issued a report urging the junta to free Suu Kyi and other detainees.
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