Poland planning to free political prisoners soon

The Polish government has prepared a wide-ranging amnesty decree that will free hundreds of political prisoners within a month, parliamentary sources said.

The decree is to be voted into law to accompany the lifting of martial law later this week. It will pardon any activist who has avoided arrest if he promises ''to declare that he would stop his criminal acts and disclose the kinds of crimes he has committed,'' the sources said.

Some 450 political offenders are thought to be in detention, but parliamentary sources have said that 40, including leading figures in the banned trade union Solidarity, will not be pardoned.