BANGKOK (AP) — The head of Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to around 4,900 prisoners to mark the country’s traditional new year, state-run media reported Thursday, and an independent watchdog said they included at least 22 political detainees.
At least 19 buses with prisoners aboard left Yangon’s Insein prison and were welcomed outside the gate by excited family members and friends who had been waiting since early morning.
The Political Prisoners Network — Myanmar, an independent watchdog group that records violations of human rights in Myanmar’s prisons, said in a statement that by its initial count, 22 political prisoners had been freed.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the
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