Commissioner U Yu Lwin Aung said the MNHRC issued an open letter to the president on Sunday but has yet to receive a response. 

Among those that MNHRC wants released are drug users who have been jailed for several years, disabled prisoners, as well as women prisoners, especially young girls and mothers, among others.

But the letter did not mention political prisoners.

“There is no exact definition for political prisoners, when we checked the prisons; nobody mentioned they were political prisoners,” U Yu Lwin Aung said.

The commissioner also said that they checked the human rights of the prisoners inside the prison and looked into cases of prisoners who claimed they did not get justice. 

The MNHRC said most prisons in Myanmar are overcrowded, and an estimated 46 percent of prisoners were involved in drug-related cases. 

U Yu Lwin Aung underscored the need to free some of the prisoners to ease overcrowding but conceded there should be a thorough review of the cases of those the commission recommends for release.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has urged the government and hluttaw to define what is meant by ‘political prisoner’ since 2016, but the Home Affairs Ministry refused on two occasions to provide a definition of the term when MPs asked for one in parliament. 

According to AAPP’s definition, political prisoners include anyone arrested, detained or imprisoned for direct or indirect activities to promote freedom, equality, human rights and the rights of citizens, including ethnic minorities, as well as for involvement in anti-government protests. 

This includes those who are arrested and imprisoned because they think that the actions or performance of government bodies or officials do not meet public expectations or are poor. 

It also includes those involved in publishing, delivering a speech, or any other manner of opposition. 

But the Ministry of Home Affairs said in 2017 there are no political prisoners in Myanmar.

“We asked the government to define the term political prisoners. Debate will continue if the government won’t define its exact meaning.” said its spokesman U Htun Kyi.

The spokesman said the MNHRC has improved its efforts on behalf of respect for human rights, but its efforts still need to be strengthened.

The MNHRC checked 26 prisons and 24 prison camps from April to December 2017 and released the results of their findings. 

Among the prisons visited in 2017, 30 prisons had a capacity of 31,500 but detained over 50,000 prisoners – 19,000 above the recommended capacity, according to the commission’s figures.