Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 7th Jan. The Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence of the UN human rights office in Geneva on Friday hailed Myanmar Government of granting amnesty to hundreds of political prisoners this week,but also exporessed concerns that thousands more remain incarcerated.
OHCHR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told journalists in Geneva that “The release of political prisoners in Myanmar is not only a relief to those unfairly detained, but also their families.”
“Importantly, however, we take this opportunity to call for the release of the thousands of others who remain in detention for opposing military rule”.
OHCHR said to mark the country’s 75th anniversary of independence, the military junta which seized power two years ago, announced this week that it would free some 7,000 prisoners.
The office said it did not specify whether those jailed as part of its brutal crackdown on dissent would be included.
OHCHR spokesperson said that the military regime has incarcerated some 300 political prisoners.
“Even as news emerged about the amnesty to mark the country’s independence day, we continued to receive reports of people being detained for opposing military rule, many of whom have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment”, he said.
He said btaht since the military coup of 1 February 2021, some 17,000 people have been arrested and over 13,000 remain in detention.
The local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners believes that 300 political prisoners had been released identified 223, while working to verify the others.
Mr. Laurance pointed out that on the very day that they were released, another 22 political prisoners were detained, as he praised the amnesty.
“Such detentions are not only intended to silence the junta’s critics, but are also designed to instil fear”, he stated.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for an end to arbitrary detention once and for all.
He said regarding human rights as “the force that come in and unify us”, bringing everyone “back to the fundamentals of who we are, of human dignity and to what connects us all with each other”, he argued that one person’s pain ultimately hurts everyone.
Turk called on governments and all detaining authorities globally to put the milestone Declaration into action by granting an amnesty, pardon or by simply releasing all those detained for exercising their rights.
Mr. Laurance underscored “The pathway out of Myanmar’s crisis is not by locking people up it is by allowing them to freely, fully, and effectively participate in political life.”
OHCHR appealed the release of former democratically elected leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi’s and for the arbitrary detention of individuals to cease life”.
UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said that Secretary-General António Guterres had also expressed his “deep concern” at the latest verdicts and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi, “and reiterates his calls for her immediate release and that of President Wyn Myint and of all arbitrarily detained prisoners in Myanmar.”
Mr. Laurence told that OHCHR was in constant engagement with the authorities, and that the High Commissioner would be releasing a new report soon on Myanmar.
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