The military authorities of the South Asian nation have executed four pro-democracy activists, including a close ally of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, it was announced on July 25th, Monday.
The four political prisoners were executed over their involvement in helping militias to fight the army. They were sentenced to death in the month of January in closed-door trials.
Two of the four executed were significant political personalities in the pro-democracy protests that took place in Myanmar in the immediate aftermath of the coup.
Phyo Zayar Thaw was a former lawmaker, a rapper, and a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). He had been a parliamentarian since 2012, and he and Kyaw Min Yu worked closely with party leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their appeals were rejected the previous month.
The other two men executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. They were convicted of torturing and killing a woman in March 2021, who they allegedly believed was a military informer.
According to an activist group, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, the last judicial executions took place back in the late 1980s in Myanmar. The previous executions in the country have been by hanging.
Furthermore, the AAPP, an activist group, mentions that around 2100 people have been killed by the security forces since the coup, but the junta claims it to be an exaggerated figure. (The Hindu)
International Condemnation
“This cruel and regressive step is an extension of the military’s ongoing regressive campaign against its own people,” said UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet.
I'm devastated by news that former parliamentarian Zeyar Thaw and longtime activist Ko Jimmy were executed with two others today. UN Member States must honor their lives by making this depraved act a turning point for the world's response to this crisis. My statement attached. pic.twitter.com/zhdBxFDXoo
— UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews (@RapporteurUn) July 25, 2022
She further called for the immediate release of all political prisoners and other arbitrarily detained individuals, and urged the country to reinstate its de-facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty. (UN News)
Special Rapporteur Thomas Andrew condemned the execution decision when it was announced back in the month of June. The men were “tried, convicted, and sentenced… without the right of appeal and reportedly without legal counsel, in violation of international human rights law,” he mentioned in a statement.
Previously, in the month of June, the United Nations chief, Antonio Guterres, called for charges to be dropped “against those arrested on charges related to the exercise of their fundamental freedoms and rights, and for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Myanmar.”
However, the ruling junta of Myanmar has condemned foreign statements referring to the execution orders as “reckless and interfering.”