The military junta in Myanmar has executed four prisoners, including a former lawmaker from the party of ousted de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi, state media reported today, the first executions of dissidents in the Asian country in decades.
Those convicted, including democracy activist Kyaw Min Yew, 53, were accused of “barbaric and inhuman acts of terrorism,” according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
According to the state newspaper, the executions followed “prison trials” behind closed doors. It is not specified when they happened.
Since the military regime was imposed in a coup on February 1, 2021, dozens of opponents of the junta have been sentenced to death in Myanmar.
Pio Zhiya Tao, 41, a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, was arrested in November and sentenced to death in January for violating the anti-terrorism law.
Two other prisoners who were executed had been accused of murdering a woman who had allegedly been an informant for the military junta.
The army continues its bloody campaign to suppress its opponents. More than 2,100 civilians have been killed and more than 15,000 arrested since the coup, according to a non-governmental organization in the country.
The armed forces are also accused of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. In 2017, more than 740,000 minorities took refuge in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing their homes to escape brutality by the military and paramilitaries.
UN experts condemned the executions when they were announced, stressing that their purpose is to “instill fear” in citizens.
In the past, death row convicts in Myanmar were executed by hanging.
According to the data of the Union of Aid to Political Prisoners, the previous executions in the country took place in the late 1980s.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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