New Myanmar Government Frees Dozens of Student Activists

The new government of Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi released scores of jailed activists on Friday, just over a week after assuming power, and the new president is preparing to pardon 100 more people serving sentences for political offences.

Many of Suu Kyi's supporters and members of her National League for Democracy, or NLD party were political prisoners under the junta that ceded power in 2011 after nearly 50 years of military rule.

A total of 69 student activists and supporters had charges against them dismissed and were released from jail in the town of Tharrawaddy, north of Yangon, said Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's office. Many of them were detained during a violent police dispersal of student protests in March 2015.

President Htin Kyaw was putting together another pardon for more than 100 people serving sentences for political crimes, Zaw Htay said.

The released activists were among 414 people facing political charges in Myanmar, said Bo Kyi, the head of rights monitor the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The release still leaves 47 on remand in jail and another 298 on bail while facing charges.