Thein Sein Urged to Follow Through on Promises of Prisoners’ Release

17 July 2013

Activists are urging Burma’s President Thein Sein to follow through on promises made during a visit to London earlier this week, including to free all political prisoners by the end of this year. “President Thein Sein is very good at PR but he needs to turn his words into action,” Bo Kyi, a joint secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, adding that it would be difficult to free all political prisoners by the year’s end because dozens of activists, including some who were arrested for protesting without permission, still face trial.