Myanmar officials on Wednesday announced a prisoner amnesty just days before US President Barack Obama arrives on a visit seen as an endorsement of democratic reforms in the former pariah nation.
It was not immediately clear whether scores of political activists still languishing in Myanmar’s jails would be among those freed, but the amnesty comes ahead of Obama’s keenly-anticipated November 19 trip to the once army-ruled country.
“The announcement will be printed tomorrow in the state run newspaper,” presidential office spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP while a second official, requesting anonymity, said 450 prisoners would be released.
Myanmar has already freed hundreds of political prisoners locked up during decades of authoritarian rule as part of reforms responsible for a dramatic thaw in relations between the West and the long-isolated nation formerly called Burma.
The last major amnesty in September saw dozens of dissidents among more than 500 inmates pardoned from their sentences.
But many political prisoners still remain behind bars and opposition groups estimated around 300 activists were in jails around the country before the September amnesty.
Campaign group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners put the current figure at 283 in a list posted on its website on October 31.