Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) Twenty-one prisoners, including 19 prisoners of conscience and a trade union leader, were released Sunday, International Human Rights Day, under an amnesty decree issued by President Chen Shui-bian.
Those released under the amnesty decree included 19 Jehovah's Witnesses convicted of refusing to accept military conscription for religious reasons.
Chen also gave special pardons to Tseng Mao-hsing, a long-time fighter for workers' rights, and Su Ping-kun, jailed on insufficient evidence for robbery. Tseng was jailed for leading a strike in which protesters lay across railway lines to protest a decision to close a textile plant without offering employees severance and retirement pay.
Yu Shyi-kun, secretary-general to the president, said after announcing the amnesty decree that Chen has ordered an all-out review of the nation's human rights policy with an ultimate goal of making the island "a new indicator for human rights in the 21st century."