16-22 May: False Amnesty for Political Prisoners in Burma

May 23, 2011

On 16 May 2011, the military regime under order number 28/2011 provided ‘amnesty’ to prisoners in Burma, by either converting death sentences to life imprisonment or reducing prison terms by one year. Under this order, only 47 political prisoners have been released, as there remained less than one year on their sentences. This ‘mass amnesty’ will make little or no difference to over 2,000 political prisoners who have been sentenced for as many as 106 years, under vague domestic laws that criminalize peaceful political dissent. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has named this the worst prisoner amnesty in Burma’s history.

The number of political prisoners has doubled since the Saffron Revolution in September 2007. Members of the current political prisoner population include monks, media, activists, leaders from the 88 Generation student group and other students, former Members of Parliament, National League for Democracy (NLD) members and ethnic leaders. Human rights groups have documented the poor conditions of detention including psychological and physical torture, deprivation of food, lack of health care, sexual offences, poor or no hygiene and remote incarcerations to impose family separation. Since 1990, 146 political prisoners have died in detention in Burma due to malnutrition, maltreatment and inadequate medical care. This week, 22 political prisoners began a strike to demand an improvement to these conditions.

The regime’s amnesty order falls entirely short of consistent calls from the international community for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Burma. It follows a recent visit by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Burma envoy, Vijay Nambiar, who voiced a similar call. Nambiar went on to say that the release has fallen short of expectations and is insufficient. AAPP has stated that by not meeting these calls, “the regime has shown the contempt in which it holds its own people and the total disregard in which it holds the international community.” This decision is an obvious continuation of the large-scale repression of civil liberties in Burma.

While the release of each political prisoner is a welcomed development, the military regime deserves no praise or recognition for releasing citizens who have endured arbitrary, prolonged and inhuman detention and who were, in fact, due to be released shortly. Similarly, while Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest holds major significance internationally and in particular, for the people of Burma, she was only released upon the end of her sentence. It should be noted that her release was long overdue, and was not a concession or a compromise. With only twenty-three of the more than 300 imprisoned NLD members released under this amnesty order, it is clear that there continues to be a lack of safe space for Burma’s political opposition.

In addition to this being one of the worst prisoner amnesties in Burma’s history, it fails to address the need for substantive reform. The regime has consistently denied even the existence of political prisoners in Burma, claiming that people have breached ‘legitimate’ domestic laws. This denial was loudly voiced by the regime’s delegation during Burma’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council session in January 2011. This approach is a critical barrier to concrete progress towards democracy and national reconciliation in Burma.

With no legislative change or institutional reform that is better aligned with international human rights standards, patterns of arbitrary arrest and detention are likely to remain the same, and indeed, arrests have continued in the post-election period. The current ‘amnesty’ order cannot be considered a reliable indicator of any substantive change in Burma, nor should it be considered any guarantee of the future safety of political prisoners who have been released.

As long as political activists are silenced by the regime, national reconciliation and genuine democracy building will not be possible in Burma.