Burma to cut prison sentences Burma's government has announced it will cut the sentences of some prisoners and commute some death sentences to life imprisonment, citing humanitarian grounds. State media on Monday said president Thein Sein had signed a clemency order to mark the country's 64th anniversary of independence. But it was unclear whether any of Burma's political prisoners would be included in the move. The issue of political prisoners and the country's harsh penal system is a significant stumbling block in relations between Burma and key western countries. In the first visit to Burma by a US secretary of state in five decades, Hillary Clinton last month signalled that Burma would have to make more progress on human rights before full relations could be restored. The US maintains economic sanctions that prevent its companies from operating in the country, although a handful have exemptions from their longstanding involvement in Burma. Thousands of Burmese prisoners were released in two amnesties in May and October 2011, as part of a government effort to open up the country after decades of isolation. But only several hundred of those released were political activists. Estimates vary of the exact number of political detainees in Burmese jails. Human rights groups put the number of political prisoners at 1,200 to 1,600 of an estimated total 200,000 or more people serving sentences in prison and labour camps throughout the country. Under Monday's clemency order, some death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment, while some prisoners serving sentences between 21 and 30 years will have their terms cut to 20 years, while some 20-year terms will be cut to 15 years. Human rights groups dismissed the latest government move as almost meaningless. It's rather typical of the government to keep playing these games with prisoners, both common criminal and political. This announced clemency is no different from previous ones in which thousands of prisoners are set free or have sentences reduced while only a handful are political activists," said David Mathieson, Burma researcher with Human Rights Watch. Many leaders of the so-called 88 Generation Students Group, which led the 1988 protests that triggered a bloody crackdown by the military-led government, remain in jail serving long sentences. However, some western diplomats in Rangoon and Bangkok welcomed the clemency move, saying it reinforced hopes that the government would release more political detainees in the coming months. Mr Thein Sein has initiated various reforms in the economic sphere and reached out to the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The clemency order follows confirmation on Friday that Burma will hold a by-election on April 1 for 48 seats in its 664-seat parliament. Most of the 48 seats were vacated by MPs who became cabinet ministers after the 2010 general election. Ms Suu Kyi and her NLD party have said they will contest every one of the 48 seats. The NLD boycotted the 2010 vote in protest over restrictions that prevented her from standing, but those restrictions have now been lifted.