(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Amnesty International has welcomed the release of peaceful activist Dr Tun Aung, jailed for trying to prevent communal violence, but called on the Myanmar authorities to free the dozens of other prisoners of conscience still behind bars.
In a call made on January 20, Amnesty International took the opportunity provided by the freeing of the activist to call for the immediate release of all other prisoners of conscience held in Myanmar.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says 81 political activists remain jailed in Myanmar as of the end of December 2014, despite President U Thein Sein's promise to free all prisoners of conscience by the end of 2013.
Amnesty's call came after the Myanmar authorities freed Dr Tun Aung, a Muslim community leader and medical doctor, on January 19. He was first jailed in 2012 after trying to calm the crowd during a riot involving Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State and was sentenced to up to 17 years' imprisonment under what the NGO claims were trumped-up charges.
"This is a very welcome move by the authorities and we are delighted that Dr Tun Aung is finally free and will be reunited with his family. His release will come as encouragement for all of those inside and outside the country who campaigned for his freedom," said Mr Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International's research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
"But he should never have been imprisoned in the first place € the charges against him were baseless and the trials he faced farcical."
"There's also a risk that Dr Tun Aung could be arrested and imprisoned again as he was only conditionally released. The Myanmar authorities should lift any restrictions on him and ensure that he is free to peacefully exercise his human rights without threat of arrest or criminalisation," Mr Abbott said.
"Despite Dr Tun Aung's release, dozens more prisoners of conscience remain jailed in Myanmar € they must all be released immediately and without conditions," he said.
Mr Abbott said those really responsible for the violence in 2012 have walked away free, and that attention should be focused on bringing these people to account.
In October 2012, Amnesty International designated Dr Tun Aung a prisoner of conscience. The following year in December 2013, he was chosen as one of the focus cases of Amnesty International's annual "Letter Writing Marathon" campaign, when millions of people around the world take action for individuals and communities whose human rights have been violated.
According to a letter from Myanmar's National Human Rights Commission, the letters they received from Amnesty International members prompted them to look further into Dr Tun Aung's case.
The Myanmar government has recently set up a new committee to look into the cases of prisoners of conscience.
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