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Myanmar has executed four anti-coup activists

Posted by on 2022/07/26. Filed under Breaking News,Headline News,International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Burma’s military government has executed four anti-coup activists, including a close ally of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung SAN Suu Kyi, drawing widespread condemnation and outrage.

Myanmar’s state-run global New Light newspaper reported Monday that the four men were executed for what it called “barbaric and inhuman acts of terror.”
The men were sentenced to death in a closed-door trial In January after being accused of helping militias battle the military, which seized power in a coup led By Senior General Min Aung hlaing In February 2021.

Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from Aung SAN Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, and Kyaw Min Yu, a prominent democracy activist, were found guilty of crimes under anti-terrorism laws.
Phyo Zeya Thaw, a hip-hop singer who had been detained over his lyrics, was accused of leading attacks on security forces, including a shooting on a commuter train in Yangon in August that left five police officers dead.

The other two executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, who were sentenced to death for the killing of a woman accused of being an informant for the military government in Yangon.
The execution marked the Southeast Asian country’s first use of the death penalty in decades.

According to The Assistance association For Political prisoners (AAPP), an activist group, the last judicial execution took place in the late 1980s.
Executions in Myanmar used to be carried out by hanging.
Judicial spokesman Yadanar Mang said the executions constituted crimes against humanity and called for further sanctions against the ruling Council of State Administration.

“All the perpetrators from Min Aung Hlaing must be held accountable for this brazen act of cruelty,” Yadanal Mang told Al Jazeera.

“The international community must take action now, to end the state of terrorist military completely at large and the execution and other international crimes of international response to the junta, must include in the junta and its business interests coordination targeted sanctions, banning jet fuel and the global arms embargo, must sanctions against myanmar oil and gas companies, To prevent oil and gas funds from financing the junta’s atrocities.”
The United Nations Special rapporteur on human rights In myanmar, Thomas Andrews, said he was “outraged and saddened” by the executions.
“My heart goes out to their families, friends and loved ones, as well as to all those in Myanmar who have been victims of the junta’s escalating atrocities… These depraved acts must be a turning point for the international community.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshihide Hayashi said the executions would further isolate Burma from the international community.
In a statement, Mr. Lin called the move deeply concerning and said it would inflame national sentiment and deepen the conflict.
Military spokesmen did not answer calls seeking comment.

The men’s death sentences have been condemned by human rights groups, the US, France and the UN, where Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the planned executions as a “flagrant violation of the right to life”.
Since the coup, the government has sentenced dozens of activists to death, defending the planned executions as legal and necessary.

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