BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The president of Myanmar dismissed concerns over the number of political prisoners held in the country following condemnation from Washington.
U.S. President Barack Obama was in Indonesia to take part in a summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. His arrival coincided with a decision by opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to return to political activity nearly a year after she was freed from prison.
Obama Friday said dialogue between Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy has begun in earnest but added there were other outstanding concerns about remaining political prisoners.
Thein Sein, Myanmar's president, told Asian delegates in Indonesia, however, that he didn't agree with complaints about the number of political prisoners in his country.
"We punished them because they violated the law," he was quote by opposition newspaper Democratic Voice of Burma as saying. "There are a lot of people in prison for breaking the law, so if we apply the term ('prisoner of conscience') to just one group, then it will be unfair on the others."
The government in Myanmar has released hundreds of prisoners as part of a general amnesty given to an estimated 6,300 detainees.
Human rights groups said there may be thousands of more political prisoners in prison.
