Myanmar to release hundreds of political prisoners
Aung San Suu Kyi, in her first announcement as de facto leader of Myanmar, said Thursday her new government will work toward freeing all remaining political prisoners within two weeks.
Her announcement could affect up to 500 prisoners in jail or awaiting trial in Myanmar, also known as Burma, the BBC reports.
She said the release is a “priority” for the new administration of U Htin Kyaw, who was picked by Suu Kyi to become Myanmar's president and lead the government that took office last week.
The statement said the release would include student activists on trial for demonstrating against the National Education Law, according to the Myanmar Times.
BBC's Myanmar correspondent, Jonah Fisher, says it is unclear whether the decision to free political prisoners will apply to Myanmar's many ethnic insurgencies.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was under house arrest for almost 15 years, is acting in her new role as "state counsellor," akin to a prime minister. Parliament, in its first legislative act, created the position for her Tuesday over the objections of the military, which holds a quarter of the seats.
The country’s most popular politician, Suu Kyi is barred by a junta-era constitution from becoming president because her sons are British citizens, as was her late husband. The military junta, which took power in a coup in 1962, was dissolved in 2011.
The 70-year-old Suu Kyi, daughter of the founder of the modern Myanmar army who negotiated the nation's independence from the British empire, leads the National League for Democracy party. The NLD won by a landslide in November in the country's first free election in decades.
President Obama phoned Suu Kyi on Wednesday and praised her "determined efforts, over the course of many years and at great personal cost, to achieve a peaceful transfer of power and advance national reconciliation," according to the White House.
She is a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.