Myanmar junta executes 4 democracy activists

Nay Pyi Daw, Jul 25: Myanmar's military authorities have executed four democracy activists, state media reported on Monday.

The activists were accused of leading "brutal and inhumane terror acts," the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. These are Myanmar's first in decades.

Who were the executed men?
The executed men included democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, the paper reported.

Thaw was a lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

The other two executed men were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.

The Global New Light of Myanmar said that the four had been charged under the counter-terrorism law and the penal code. The newspaper said the punishment had been conducted under the prison's procedures.

A 'vile attempt at instilling fear'
The four were sentenced to death in January in a closed-doors trial. They were accused of helping militias to fight the army that seized power in a coup last year.

Two UN experts called the planned executions a "vile attempt at instilling fear" among the people.

Myanmar authorities engaged in a brutal crackdown to quash protests against the coup. The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group said that 2,100 people have been killed by security forces since the coup.

The AAPP said, before Monday, the last judicial executions in Myanmar took place in the late 1980s.

'Going back to the dark ages'
The United Nation's special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that he was "outraged and devastated" over the executions.

"These depraved acts must be a turning point for the international community," he said.

Myanmar shadow national unity government spokesman Kyaw Zaw said that members of the government-in-exile were "extremely saddened" and "condemn the junta's cruelty with strongest terms." He stressed that "the global community must punish their cruelty."

International Crisis Group Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey said that "any possibility to end the crisis created by the coup has now been removed."

"[Myanmar's junta] sees this as a demonstration of strength, but it may be a serious miscalculation," he concluded.

"There were no executions for 30 years. This turns back the clock... going back into [the] dark ages," Khin Zaw Win, director of the Tampadipa Institute think tank, said.

Source: DW