US embassy cable - 02RANGOON916

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000916 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
CINCPAC FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, BM, Human Rights, NLD 
SUBJECT: REGIME RELEASES 32 POLITICAL PRISONERS 
 
REF: RANGOON 613 
 
Classified By: CDA PRISCILLA A. CLAPP FOR REASON 1.5(D). 
 
1. (SBU)  Summary:  The regime announced yesterday that it 
had released 32 political prisoners; 14 NLD members and 18 
others, mostly students.  The NLD was told of only 24 
releases, its 14 members and 10 students the regime said were 
arrested for supporting NLD activities.  Despite the 
discrepancy in reporting, the NLD hopes these releases 
presage more significant releases of NLD members and students 
in conjunction with the upcoming visit of Special Envoy 
Razali and others. End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU)  The regime announced the release of 32 political 
prisoners yesterday (7/28); 14 NLD members and 18 others. 
Following its normal procedure, the regime faxed a brief 
statement from its spokesperson to selected &friendly8 
embassies (the U.S. is not among them) and local press 
representatives.  The statement provided just the names of 
those released and stated that they had been returned to 
their families from various correctional facilities and were 
&resting comfortably.8   This was the largest single 
release of prisoners by the regime since talks with NLD 
General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi began in December 1999. 
None of the 14 NLD prisoners were senior or prominent 
officials although two were township level leaders before 
their arrests.  Most of the non-NLD prisoners were students 
who were arrested along with NLD members but were not 
registered party members. 
 
NLD notified of only 24 releases..... 
 
3. (C)  Visiting NLD headquarters to obtain their views on 
the releases, Poloff was told that NLD Secretary U Lwin had 
received a call from Military Intelligence (MI) alerting him 
only to the release of 14 NLD members and 10 students who 
were arrested with NLD members.  MI did not mention the other 
eight releases which the regime had announced to others.  U 
Lwin did not have any explanation for the discrepancy. 
(Note:  The difference in the method the regime notified the 
NLD and the press and the differences in the numbers provided 
is just one example of how carefully the regime continues to 
attempt to control information.  Perhaps the regime did not 
provide eight of the names to the NLD because the prisoners 
were not affiliated with the NLD, although their releases 
were certainly a result of NLD efforts.  As usual, however, 
the regime provided no explanation for its actions. End 
Note.) 
 
4. (SBU)  This discrepancy in numbers aside, U Lwin was 
pleased with the releases, noting that although no 
significant NLD leaders were released the number of prisoners 
released is much higher than the five to ten prisoners the 
regime has been releasing periodically since the talks began. 
 He said he believes the releases are an effort to 
demonstrate political progress prior to upcoming visits to 
Burma by UN Special Envoy Razali (8/2), Japanese Foreign 
Minister Kawaguchi (8/3), and Malaysian Prime Minister 
Mahathir (8/18). 
 
More releases imminent? 
 
5. (C)  This release of 14 NLD members brings the total 
number of remaining NLD prisoners down to 261, according to U 
Lwin.  He said that he is hopeful that the regime will 
&clean the slate8 and release the remaining prisoners in 
conjunction with Special Envoy Razali,s visit.  This is a 
necessary and long overdue action which would pave the way 
for progress on dialogue, he said. 
 
6. (SBU)  U Lwin was also pleased that the regime included 
student activists in these releases.  He said the NLD has no 
estimate of the number of these activists remaining in prison 
but there are many.  Many of these students, he explained, 
were arrested for participating in NLD rallies when they were 
quite young and had little understanding of the consequences 
of their actions.  Some who are still in prison were arrested 
as long ago as 1989, according to U Lwin.  He and Vice 
Chairman U Tin Oo expressed hope that yesterday,s releases 
are a harbinger of more student releases in the near future. 
7. (SBU)  Discussing the total number of remaining political 
prisoners, U Lwin said the NLD does not know how many non-NLD 
ethnic political prisoners exist in addition to the student 
activists.  He said the number of Karen, Shan, and other 
ethnic political prisoners could be substantial, especially 
near the border areas.  (Note:  This explains in part at 
least the continuing inconsistent estimates of political 
prisoners by Amnesty International, ICRC, and others. End 
Note.) 
 
Clapp