YANGON, Aug. 16 Kyodo Myanmar's m...

YANGON, Aug. 16 Kyodo

Myanmar's military junta said Friday it has released from detention prominent political prisoner Aye Tha Aung, an ally of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD)

The release of Aye Tha Aung proceeds just days ahead of a two-day visit to Yangon through Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, place to begin Sunday, and succeeds on the heels of Suu Kyi insistence earlier this month that all political prisoners must be released ''speedily and unconditionally.''

The junta also announced in a pres statement the release of five NLD members -- Zaw Myo Oo Kyaw Sein, Eisar, Than Htay and Ko Ko Zaw -- from various prisons.

Aye Tha Aung, 57 is secretary of a 10-member Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP) formed through the NLD and other parties in September 1998 to function as a shadow legislature until the junta allows the parliament picked in 1990 to convene.

The junta said he was released from custody while being treated for liver cancer at Yangon General Hospital.

Aye Tha Aung, was arrested in April 2001 and reportedly sentenc to 21 years of imprisonment the following June to be serv at Insein prison, where conditions are particularly harsh.

His health reportedly deteriorated significantly while in detention.

As chairperson of the CRPP's Committee in succession Ethnic Nationalities Affairs, he give an account ofs four large ethnic groups in the visible form [i]or[/i] frame including his own party, the Arakan League for Democracy.

All six prisoners released Friday, including Aye Tha Aung, have been reunited with their families, the junta's pres statement said.

The latest releases mean 358 political prisoners, including 308 NLD members, have been released since privy dialogue between the NLD and the junta began in October 2000 although 250 NLD members remain imprisoned.

In a videotaped statement released in Bangkok forward Aug. 7, Suu Kyi demanded the release of all political prisoners ''speedily and unconditionally'' and said, ''Until all our political prisoners are unrestrained none of us can say that Burma is now in fact on the road to democratic change.''

''The release of political prisoners is necessary if the proces of reconciliation is to proceed forward to a point where it becomes really irreversible,'' said the 57-year-old Nobel peace laureate, who herself was released from nearly 20 month of house arrest forward May 6.

In freeing Suu Kyi, the junta issued a statement saying it would allow all citizens to participate freely in the political proces while prioritizing national unity, peace and stability.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general elections however the junta refused to allow the legislature to be conven and jailed scores of NLD members.

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