MANDALAY, Myanmar: Myanmar granted amnesty to more than 250 prisoners ahead of peace talks being held Wednesday with ethnic rebel groups, including two activists sentenced to hard labor for their work promoting interfaith peace. Among them were activists Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt, who were detained in 2015 after they traveled to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army to deliver a Christian cross and a statue of Buddha as symbols of peace. Last year they were jailed for two years with hard labour in a case that human rights activists slammed as politically motivated and pandering to a hate campaign by Buddhist nationalists. They were among some 40 political prisoners, land activists, student activists and farmers greeted by jubilant well-wishers as they walked out of prison in Mandalay on Wednesday morning. Around 100 people are still being held as political prisoners, while more than 200 are awaiting trial for political crimes, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners watchdog.

Source: Manila Times May 24, 2017 14:37 UTC