Myanmar to release more than 14,000 convicts

May 17, 2011 Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar – More than 14,600 prisoners in Myanmar are being released
under a clemency program that will include very few political prisoners.

Prison Department Director General Zaw Win says most of the convicts,
including 2,166 women, will be freed Tuesday from jails around the
country.

The limited nature of the program — commuting death sentences to life
imprisonment and cutting one year from prison terms — has drawn criticism
from many who had expected more generous terms similar to broader
amnesties that had been applied in the past.

Most of the country's political prisoners, both from the pro-democracy
movement and undesirable factions in the government, are serving long
prison terms that will keep them locked up.