Myanmar’s military junta has executed four pro-democracy activists accused of helping carry out “terrorist acts,” state media said, the Southeast Asian nation’s first executions in decades.
Key points:
- In the first executions in more than 30 years, four people have been killed in Myanmar
- The junta took control after toppling the government in a coup last year
- One of the executed men received political training in Australia and has close ties there
Among those executed was former hip-hop artist and ousted MP Phyo Zeya Thaw, who has close ties to Australia and whose death has sent shockwaves through the diaspora community here.
Thazin Nyunt Aung, Phyo Zeyar Thaw’s wife, said she had not been informed of her husband’s execution.
Prominent democracy figure Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, was also executed. The other two men killed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Sentenced to death in closed-door trials in January and April, the four men had been accused of helping militias fight the army that seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a bloody repression against his opponents.
Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, pictured in 2012, was among those executed. (AFP: Soe Than Win)
Kyaw Min Yu, 53, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old ally of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, lost their appeals against the sentences in June.
The four had been charged under the anti-terrorism law and the penal code, and the punishment was carried out according to prison procedure, the newspaper said, without elaborating.
Previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging.
Sydney activist Sophia Sarkis said Phyo Zeya Thaw was a close friend and came to Australia for a charity event she organized in 2019.
“I didn’t know it would be the last time I would see him,” she told the ABC.
Sophia Sarkis says her friend will be remembered as a role model. (Supplied)
He said that while he was a famous rapper in Myanmar, he chose to enter politics because he believed in justice.
He said the charges were baseless and that he had been used as a scapegoat, and that he knew many in Myanmar “who live in fear of who will be next”.
Sophia Sarkis – Phyo Zeya Thaw (Official Music Video) Sophia Sarkis – Phyo Zeya Thaw (Official Music Video)
He said his life was cut short and he was a role model for the younger generation whose legacy will live on.
“He lives in our hearts forever and we will remember him as a hero,” he said.
“He will be remembered as a young and free spirit, a loving and caring person, and brave, very brave. I am very proud to have known him.”
The former rapper had a political education in Australia
Phyo Zeya Thaw’s connection to Australia dates back to 2012, according to Peter Yates, policy adviser to the former Labor government’s minister for international development.
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After his election, but before he was sworn in, he was flown to Australia with AusAid funds for a political advisers course, meeting then-prime minister Julia Gillard during the trip.
“Australia has supported this really important democracy activist who has now been executed,” he said.
“It’s symbolic of the situation in Myanmar at the moment, where not only are there extrajudicial killings by the junta, but obviously now judicial killings as well,” he said, adding that the military had crushed a decade of hope for a democratic future.
Peter Yates says Phyo Zeya Thaw was a Labor MP who was trained in Australia. (Provided by Peter Yates)
Australia has not imposed new sanctions on Myanmar’s military generals since the coup, despite measures by the US, UK and Canada.
The new government has been repeatedly urged to take a firmer stance due to the ongoing arrest of Australian economist Sean Turnell.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.
Professor Sean Turnell, pictured with his wife Ha Vu, faces a trial under the Official Secrets Act.
Yates said Phyo Zeya Thaw had also met with Barack Obama and was a hardworking MP for his constituents in Nay Pyi Taw.
“It’s definitely shocking. I think we all had expected the death sentence to be a political act by the board, rather than something they were going to follow through with… [I’m] so deeply saddened and shocked by this horrible decision,” he said.
Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration banned by the ruling military junta, condemned the executions.
“This is the signal and the trigger for the international community,” said Tun Aung Shwe, Australian representative of NUG.
“Under the military regime, there is no law… Myanmar’s judicial system under the military regime is just for show.
“Our commitment is made stronger than before because of their sacrifice… They sacrificed their lives.”
More than 2,000 extrajudicial killings since the coup
The sentences drew international condemnation, with two UN experts calling them a “vile attempt to instill fear” among people.
The Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) said Myanmar’s last judicial executions were in the late 1980s.
Myanmar’s military has been accused of human rights violations. (AP: Amnesty International)
A military spokesman did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Last month, military spokesman Zaw Min Tun defended the death penalty, saying it was used in many countries.
“At least 50 innocent civilians, excluding security forces, died because of them,” he said in a televised news conference.
“How can you say that this is not justice? The required actions must be taken at the required times.”
Many young people became guerrillas after the coup of February 1 last year. (Reuters)
Myanmar has been in chaos since last year’s coup, with conflict spreading across the country after the army crushed mostly peaceful protests in cities.
The AAPP says more than 2,100 people have been killed by security forces since the coup, but the junta says the number is exaggerated.
The true picture of the violence has been difficult to assess as the fighting has spread to more remote areas where ethnic minority insurgent groups are also fighting the army.
The latest executions close any chance of ending the unrest, said Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey of the International CRISIS group.
“Any possibility of dialogue to end the crisis created by the coup has now been removed,” Horsey told Reuters.
“This is the regime showing that it will do what it wants and listen to no one. It sees it as a show of force, but it may be a serious miscalculation.”
Sophia Sarkis (right) says she was in shock after hearing her friend Phyo Zeya Thaw (second from right) had been executed. (Provided by Sophia Sarkis)
Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the junta’s “barbarity and callous disregard for human life is aimed at silencing the anti-coup protest movement.”
“The execution of four men by the Myanmar junta was an act of utter cruelty,” he said.
“These executions…followed highly unfair and politically motivated military trials. This horrific news was compounded by the junta’s failure to notify the men’s families, who learned of the executions through media reports of the board”.
Amnesty International’s regional director, Erwin van der Borght, called for an immediate moratorium on executions.
“The international community must act immediately, as more than 100 people are believed to be on death row after being convicted in a similar proceeding,” he said.
“For over a year now, Myanmar’s military authorities have engaged in extrajudicial killings, torture and a whole range of human rights violations. The military will only continue to trample on people’s lives if they are not responsible”.
ABC/Reuters