Myanmar executes democracy activists in first use of capital punishment for decades
- A former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and another prominent activist were among the four executed prisoners
- The last judicial executions in Myanmar are believed to have been carried out in the 1980s. The junta has been heavily criticised for the executions
Sentenced to death in closed-door trials in January and April, the four men had been accused of helping militias to fight the army that seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.
Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration outlawed by the ruling military junta, condemned the executions and called for international action against the generals.
“Extremely saddened … condemn the junta’s cruelty with strongest terms,” the NUG president’s office spokesman Kyaw Zaw said via text message. “The global community must punish their cruelty.”
Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) who was arrested in November, was among those executed.
Prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu – better known as “Jimmy” – was also put to death, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Two other men, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, had been sentenced to death for killing a woman they alleged was an informer for the junta in Yangon.
