Those incarcerated in the Mawlike-Kalay prison in Sagaing Region held a protest on Thursday because no one from their penitentiary was released in the mass Presidential pardons that ended this week.
On Tuesday, more than 6,000 prisoners were released nationwide in Burma in the final round of pardons by the Burmese government which began with Thingyan, the Buddhist New Year festival.
“It’s unfair because some prisoners are not released even though they are charged under the same acts [as others who got released],” Ko Kyaw Thet Win, chair of the Upper Chindwin Youth Network told Khonumthung News.
Prisoners in Mawlike-Kalay held signs with messages calling for equal rights to pardons, and demanding to meet with members of the media, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and government officials. The military’s Brig-Gen Kyaw Tun, as well as the Kalay District director of the General Administration Department (GAD), the district police commander, and the township GAD director went to hold talks with the protesting prisoners.