Coronavirus
Representative photo.

Over 24000 prisoners are to be released from jails in Myanmar, the presidentโ€™s office announced on Friday.

โ€œTo mark Myanmar New Year, by respecting humanitarian ground and peace in mind of the people, the president pardons altogether 24,896 prisoners from various prisons,โ€ a statement from the presidentโ€™s office said.

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As per reports, Myanmar grants amnesty to a number of prisoners every year as a mark of goodwill to celebrate its New Year holiday but this is the largest ever recorded.

Moreover, the release of the prisoners comes at a time when the whole world is battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The country is under a nationwide lockdown and there has been growing pressure to release inmates from what the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls โ€œhorribly overcrowded and unsanitaryโ€ jails.

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The organization had said that Myanmarโ€™s prison system, made up of 46 prisons and 50 labor camps nationwide, holds an estimated 92,000 prisoners but has an official capacity of only 66,000

โ€œPrisoners in Myanmarโ€™s horribly overcrowded and unsanitary prisons and labor camps face health hazards in the best of times, and the prison authorities are ill-equipped to treat those who become sick with COVID-19,โ€ said the organization.

โ€œThe authorities need to act immediately to avoid an entirely foreseeable health disaster.โ€ it added.