Myanmar to free 6,300 prisoners

We welcome the announcement. This is very good news and we hope many political prisoners will be among those freed, said a spokesman for democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

President Thein Sein,a former army officer,has begun a dialogue with the movement led by Suu Kyi,and promised other reforms that could start to reverse the harsh policies of decades of military rule.

The announcement said 6,359 inmates would be released under an amnesty signed by Thein Sein for inmates who are old,disabled,unwell or who had shown good moral behavior. Thein Sein instituted an earlier amnesty in May soon after taking office,but it included just a few dozen political detainees.

Most prominent political prisoners are held in facilities far from the countrys main city of Yangon,in a policy apparently aimed at limiting their ability to communicate through visiting family and lawyers.