By NBC News staff and wire reportsMyanmar released prisoners on Thursday in a goodwill gesture ahead of a historic visit to the former military state by U.S. President Barack Obama, but activists and the main opposition party said there seemed to be no political detainees among them.
State media said early in the day that 452 prisoners would be freed with the "intent to help promote goodwill and the bilateral relationship". A Home Ministry official said some "prisoners of conscience" would be among them.
However, the National League for Democracy party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said that was not the case.
"It's so disappointing that none of those freed today are political prisoners," said senior party official Naing Naing, himself a former detainee.
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