Since the military coup in February last year, the regime in Myanmar has cracked down on those who oppose the new rule. According to the organization AAPP, which charts the military junta’s abuses, close to 15,000 people have been arrested for their involvement in the resistance movement, most of whom are still in prison.
The four executions constitute a further escalation of the violence. According to the UN human rights body, no death penalty has been carried out in the country since 1988.
Former Member of Parliament among those executed
The executed persons were all convicted of complicity in the preparation of “brutal and inhuman terrorist acts”, writes Global New Light of Myanmar. The trial took place behind closed doors and has been condemned by human rights organizations.
One of the four, Phyo Zeya Thaw, previously sat as a member of parliament for Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party and was a vocal critic of the military junta, writes the BBC.
Another, Kyaw Min Yu, is described by the broadcaster as a pro-democracy activist who has previously been imprisoned repeatedly for his involvement in the resistance movement. He was arrested in October following allegations that he hid weapons and ammunition in an apartment in Yangon.
The other two were convicted of murdering a woman who was accused of acting as an informant for the military junta, writes the BBC. Exactly when and how the executions were carried out is not clear from the state-controlled media’s reporting.
More executions may await
Concerns about executions in Myanmar were raised again in June this year, when a regime spokesperson announced that it intended to carry out the sentences handed down. The statement drew sharp criticism from, among others, the UN, whose Secretary-General António Guterres called the whole thing “a flagrant violation of the right to life”.
The human rights organization Amnesty International calls on the world to act. According to the organization, close to a hundred people were sentenced to death in the country in 2021, which raises concerns that more executions will be carried out. Amnesty Sweden’s secretary general Anna Johansson calls the development appalling.
– These trials do not live up to international standards, and then both issuing the death penalty and executing them is not acceptable. Here, the international community should say it clearly and clearly, she says.