(Staff article from The REUTERS on 25 July 2022.)
Sentenced to death in secretive trials in January
and April, the men were accused of helping a civilian resistance movement that
has fought the military since last year's coup and bloody crackdown on
nationwide protests.
Among those executed were democracy campaigner Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, an ally of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The two others executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. State media said "the punishment has been conducted", but did not say when, or by what method. Previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging.
The shadow
National Unity Government (NUG), which is leading efforts to undermine the
junta's attempts to rule Myanmar, said it was time for an international
response. "The global community must punish their cruelty," said Kyaw
Zaw, a spokesperson for the NUG president's office.
Myanmar has been
in chaos since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, with the military, which has ruled the
former British colony for five of the past six decades, engaged in battles on
multiple fronts with newly formed militia groups.
United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called the executions a "cruel and regressive step." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the executions and called again for the release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
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| Phyo Zeya Thaw with Aung San Suu Kyi (Will mad-dog Min Aung Haing hang ASSK too?) |
In a joint statement, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Britain and the United States described the executions as "reprehensible acts of violence that further exemplify the regime's disregard for human rights and the rule of law."
Amnesty
International's death penalty adviser, Chiara Sangiorgio, said the executions
were "an enormous setback" and that the junta is "not going to
stop there." Human Rights Watch acting Asia director Elaine Pearson said
it was "an act of utter cruelty" that "aims to chill the
anti-coup protest movement."
The executions
were the first carried out among some 117 death sentences handed down by
military-run courts since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has been tracking arrests, killings and court
verdicts in Myanmar.
Families of the executed men were denied the
opportunity to retrieve their loved ones' bodies, said Thazin Nyunt Aung, wife
of Phyo Zeyar Thaw, comparing it to murderers covering up their crimes. "This
is killing and hiding bodies away," she told Reuters. "They
disrespected both Myanmar people and the international community." Nilar
Thein, wife of Kyaw Min Yu, said she would hold no funeral without a body. "We
all have to be brave, determined and strong," she posted on Facebook.
The men were
held in Yangon's Insein prison, where families visited last Friday, according
to a person with knowledge of the events, who said prison officials allowed
only one relative to speak to the detainees via video call. "I asked then
'why didn't you tell me or my son that it was our last meeting?'" Khin Win
May, the mother of Phyo Zeyar Thaw, told BBC Burmese.
The junta made
no mention of the executions on its nightly television news bulletin on Monday.
Its spokesperson last month defended the death sentences as justified, and used
in many countries. read more
The White House condemned the "heinous execution of pro-democracy activists and elected leaders." U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was considering further measures in response to the junta, adding that "all options" were on the table, when asked specifically on potential sanctions on the country's gas sector.
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| MP Phyo Zeya Thaw met then PM Juia Gillard in 2012 |
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| MP Phyo Zeya Thaw during 2012 Australian Visit |
Price urged countries to ban sales of military equipment to Myanmar, not do anything that could lend the junta any international credibility. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez in a statement urged President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, among others.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who has
long had close ties to Suu Kyi, called on Myanmar's neighbours to respond.
"If they will not step up and impose meaningful costs on the junta the
Biden administration should use authorities already given to it by Congress to
sanction Burma's energy sector," he said.
Cambodian Prime
Minister Hun Sen, chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
last month sent a letter of appeal to junta chief Min Aung Hlaing not to carry
out the executions, relaying deep concern among Myanmar's neighbours.
France condemned
the executions and called for dialogue among all parties. China's foreign
ministry urged all parties in Myanmar to properly resolve conflicts within its
constitutional framework. Others called for swift sanctions.
The U.N.
Security Council should "pass a strong resolution of not only condemnation,
but clear strategic action, sanctions, economic sanctions and arms
embargo," U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews
told Reuters.
The AAPP says
more than 2,100 people have been killed by security forces since the coup. The
junta says that figure is exaggerated. The true picture of violence has been
hard to assess, as clashes have spread to more remote areas where ethnic
minority insurgent groups are also fighting the military.
The executions
have shattered hopes of any peace agreement, said the Arakan Army (AA), one of
more than a dozen ethnic minority armies in Myanmar that have fought the
military for years. The executions will close off any chance of ending the
unrest across Myanmar, said analyst Richard Horsey of the International Crisis
group. The military "sees this as a demonstration of strength, but it may
be a serious miscalculation."
