Myanmar frees political prisoners on day of historic Obama visit
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/19/us-myanmar-prisoners-idUSBRE8AI05520121119
(Reuters) ? Myanmar?s government began releasing dozens of political prisoners on Monday as Barack Obama arrived for the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to the former dictatorship
Sixty-six prisoners were scheduled to be freed, two-thirds of them dissidents, according to prison officials and activists.
They included prominent figures such as Myint Aye, a senior Prison Department official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A third of those released were former military intelligence personnel who fell afoul of the junta, according to the 88 Generation Students political group.
Myint Aye is arguably the most prominent dissident left in Myanmar?s gulag. He was one of dozens of activists arrested on what Amnesty International says were trumped-up charges and convicted in secret courts on flimsy evidence or confessions extracted under torture.
A former member of Aung San Suu Kyi?s National League for Democracy party, he was arrested for the ninth time in August 2008 for his alleged role in the bombing of an office belonging to a junta-backed political organization.
Source: http://3chicspolitico.com/2012/11/19/photos-myanmar-welcomes-president-obama/
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