Hillary Clinton Burma visit raises hopes political prisoners will be released

Her visit was welcomed by both the country's Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the influential speaker of its parliament who promised to press for more prisoner releases.

After meeting the US Secretary of State on Thursday, Thura Shwe Mann, speaker of Burma's lower house legislature said he had pledged new efforts to allow political prisoners to join the dialogue for reform.

"She urged Burma to release political prisoners. In response, I said I pledged that we will do as much as we can in order that all citizens including political prisoners can be involved in building the nation and for the sake of national reconciliation," he said after meeting Mrs Clinton in the capital Naypyitaw.

His comments raised hopes that more prisoners may be released in time to campaign in a series of by-elections expected in Spring next year.

Mrs Clinton, who is the highest level US official to visit Burma for more than 50 years, had raised the issue forcefully during her meetings with the speaker and the country's president Thein Sein. "No person in any country should be detained for exercising universal freedoms of expression, assembly and conscience," she had told him.