Army-ruled Myanmar deported a Burmese-American activist on Thursday after sentencing him last month to three years in prison for forgery and immigration offenses.
Nyi Nyi Aung, a U.S. citizen, was sent home after serving five weeks of his sentence. The reason for his deportation, which was agreed by the junta Wednesday, was not immediately known.
Washington, which has seen few results from a year-long drive to encourage Myanmar to make democratic reforms, said the release was good news but would not detract from broader political problems in the country.
"We welcome this small but positive step," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told a news briefing.
Nyi Nyi Aung, also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin, was jailed on February 10 for carrying a fake identification card and undeclared foreign currency and for failing to renounce his Myanmar citizenship.
He was arrested at Yangon's international airport in September and was accused of plotting unrest in the country. He had been to Myanmar five times as a U.S. national and planned to visit his mother, who has thyroid cancer, and his cousin.
Imprisoned for 2007 protests
Both were imprisoned for their role in nationwide monk-led protests in 2007, the biggest challenge to military rule since a bloody pro-democracy uprising in 1988 that left an estimated 3,000 people dead.
Nyi Nyi Aung, who took part in the 1988 protests, fled to the United States in 1993 and was granted citizenship in 2002.
"In one way, I'm really happy but on the other side, all my friends and my family are still in prison. That's my only message," Nyi Nyi Aung told reporters at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. He plans to return to the United States Friday.
It was the second time in seven months that a U.S. citizen has been deported from Myanmar having been convicted and imprisoned.
John Yettaw, whose uninvited stay at pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's home last May landed her in detention for another 18 months, was deported in August after serving only five days of a seven-year jail term for immigration and security breaches.
2,100 political prisoners
Myanmar plans to hold elections this year, which the junta has promised will be free, fair and inclusive, but the jailing of journalists and political activists for minor offenses has continued unabated.
An estimated 2,100 "prisoners of conscience" remain in detention in Myanmar. The junta says no political prisoners are being held in the country, insisting all are criminals.
A new election law published last week said any citizen who has served time in prison would be barred from running in the polls, for which a date has not yet been set.
The United States said the barring of political prisoners from the election made a mockery of democracy, adding there was "no hope" that the polls could be credible.
A senior U.S. official, responding to news of Thursday's release, said Nyi Nyi Aung's case simply underlined the broader plight of political prisoners in Burma.
"They shouldn't be throwing people in jail for these types of spurious reasons," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's positive in that sense, but really it just points to the bigger problem."
Rights group Freedom Now expressed satisfaction at Nyi Nyi Aung's release but urged the United States to press the junta to release all political detainees in Myanmar.
"We're absolutely thrilled he has been released and excited to know he will be going home," the group's lawyer, Beth Schwanke, said by telephone.
"However, we hope the United States will not forget the other 2,100 political prisoners."
