Those released included members of the National League for Democracy, a party spokesman, Nyan Win, said. There was no sign that the party's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, would be released from house arrest.
"As far as we know, some 240 prisoners, mostly political prisoners and some NLD lawmakers, were released from prisons," the spokesman said. He said 118 prisoners were freed from Insein prison in northern Yangon, including some held for staging solo protests in front of the city hall.
Among those released yesterday was the former newspaper editor Sein Hla Oo, who had been serving a 20-year sentence.
The junta is estimated to be holding more than 1,300 political detainees, including many who are old and in poor health. The most prominent is Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, who was most recently taken into custody in May 2003 and is being held at her home in Yangon.
