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A cyclist on a busy street in the city of Rangoon in Myanmar. Stock Photography.
More than a quarter of detainees in Myanmar, more than 24,896 people, will be released, the president’s office announced.
According to reports, 87 of them are foreigners to be deported.
Prisoners are released each year in connection with the country’s New Year celebration in April, but never before have so many people been involved. The purpose is to reduce pressure on the country’s overcrowded prisons in relation to the spread of the coronavirus.
The decision to release the prisoners has been preceded by calls by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) to allow people to be released from “terribly overcrowded and unsanitary” prisons.
The nearly 100,000 prisoners in the country are housed in prisons built for a total of 62,000.
Four people were reported to have died in coronavirus suites in the country, and 85 were confirmed to be infected. However, experts believe that the actual number may be significantly higher.
