Freed prisoners in Myanmar now living in a jail of the mind

On October 12, 2011, a guard approached the cell of prisoner 7021/C, and said, "I have good news brother. You have been ordered released."

Saw Thet Tun refused to believe him. He had 10 years left of a 22-year sentence, his second, for writing and distributing a pro- democracy pamphlet.

The guard kept repeating the statement. "Don't joke with me. Please don't joke with me," Saw Thet Tun pleaded.

It was a common reaction by those who had been imprisoned for protesting against the country's longtime military junta, said Bo Kyi, joint secretary of Myanmar's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Yangon.

The former military dictatorship began locking up pro-democracy activists in 1988 after massive protests against the government. Since President Thein Sein, a former military commander, took office in 2011, ushering in political, economic and social reforms, there have been 15 amnesties of prisoners. They included the release of 1,181 dissidents and 22,238 criminals.

Only a few of the political detainees received pardons. The rest had their sentences suspended and face a return to prison if they break any law.