Over 24000 prisoners are to be released from jails in Myanmar, the presidentโs office announced on Friday.
โTo 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 presidentโs 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 โhorribly overcrowded and unsanitaryโ jails.
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The organization had said that Myanmarโs 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
โPrisoners in Myanmarโs 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.
โThe authorities need to act immediately to avoid an entirely foreseeable health disaster.โ it added.