A prisoner amnesty in Myanmar on Friday does not go nearly far enough as scores of peaceful activists remain behind bars, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.
The government announced on January 22 the release of 102 prisoners, including at least 16 prisoners of conscience who Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had campaigned for.
Those released include three convicted of religious defamation in late 2014 for allegedly insulting an image of a Buddha in a bar advertisement. New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood and his Myanmar business partners Ko Tun Thurein and Ko Htut Ko Ko Lwin were sentenced to two and half years hard labour. Other political prisoners released include land rights activists involved in protests at the Letpadaung copper mine and in Yangon.
But on the same day a court in Yangon also sentenced peace activist Patrick Kum Jaa Lee, 43, to six months in prison for “online defamation”. He was first arrested in October 2015 for a Facebook post showing someone stepping on a photo of Myanmar Army Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
His case follows that of Chaw Sandi Tun, who was sentenced to six months in prison on December 28, also for a Facebook post allegedly mocking the military leader.
As Laura Haigh, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher, said the events “perfectly sum up how the Myanmar authorities give with one hand and take with the other. Just hours after the prisoner amnesty was announced, an activist has been sentenced to six months in jail for nothing but a harmless Facebook post.” 
“Although we are delighted for those who walk free today, scores more remain behind bars while hundreds of other peaceful activists are on bail facing jail time,” she said. 
“Amnesties like the one (on January 22) have little positive long-term effect as long as the same repressive practices fuelling arbitrary arrests and detention of activists continue. The guilty verdict against Patrick Kum Jaa Lee is outrageous and must be overturned.” 
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say they are aware of almost 100 other prisoners of conscience still behind bars and point to the hundreds involved in ongoing arrests and trials. 
“It’s heartening that the men and women released today can go back to their lives and families, but the fact is none of them should have been charged in the first place. If President Thein Sein is serious about leaving a positive legacy, he must clear the country’s jails of all prisoners of conscience once and for all,” said Laura Haigh. 
Human Rights Watch pointed to another “worrying development” - the arrest of former Buddhist monk U Gambira, a leader of the 2007 anti-government protest movement, who was picked up in Mandalay and charged with immigration offenses.
“Yesterday’s limited release of prisoners should be followed by freeing all remaining prisoners and a commitment to drop all ongoing politically motivated charges against peaceful activists and critics,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Thein Sein will leave office soon. He could leave a lasting legacy by fulfilling his stated commitment to release all political prisoners. Otherwise, he will be seen as little more than a transitional figure who was not committed to a real change in Burma’s political culture.”