More than 20,000 prisoners, including 87 foreigners, will be freed unconditionally in Myanmar's largest mass pardon in recent years as the country battles COVID-19 outbreak.
Myanmar has reported 85 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, including four deaths, but health experts believe the actual totals are higher.
Despite bans on gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus, crowds gathered outside Insein prison in the commercial capital of Yangon on Friday hoping to greet family members, despite a ban on gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus. London-based Amnesty International last week called on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, whom it charges are victims of injustice.
Those behind bars include members of a satirical poetry troupe and students imprisoned last month for protesting against a government-imposed internet shutdown.
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