Myanmar's military dictators hang four political prisoners

Myanmar’s military rulers hanged four prisoners, including two prominent pro-democracy activists, during the weekend in their continuing crackdown on dissent following their coup last year.

The executions were announced by state-controlled news agency Global Light of Myanmar, who said the men had commit “brutal and inhuman terror acts” and executed in accordance to the country’s Counter-Terrorism Law and Penal Code, reports VICE.

Among the four executed were veteran activist Ko Jimmy, 53, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old former hip-hop artist turned legislator for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which was ousted in the military coup in Feb. 2021. The other two were lesser known activists, convicted on charges of murdering a suspected informant for the junta.

Ko Jimmy and Zaya Thaw were convicted and sentenced to death by a closed-door military tribunal for offenses involving bombings, explosives and financing terrorism under the Counter Terrorism-Law – charges that Amnesty International say were politically motivated.  

“These executions amount to arbitrary deprivation of lives and are another example of Myanmar’s atrocious human rights record. The four men were convicted by a military court in highly secretive and deeply unfair trials. The international community must act immediately as more than 100 people are believed to be on death row after being convicted in similar proceedings,” said Amnesty International’s Regional Director Erwin van der Borght in a statement on Monday.

The country’s military transferred the authority to try civilians to special and existing military tribunals where they are tried through summary proceedings without the right to appeal, said the humans rights group. These hangings may be the first use of capital punishment in Myanmar in decades.

Both Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy lost their appeals in June, reports the BBC.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was among the international leaders who condemned the killings.

"Such reprehensible acts of violence and repression cannot be tolerated. We remain committed to the people of Burma and their efforts to restore Burma's path to democracy,” he wrote in a tweet, using another well-known name for Myanmar.  

Suu Kyi was “very sad” after hearing the news but did not make any other comments, a source close to her told the BBC.

The former State Counsellor of Myanmar won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her “non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights” in Myanmar, during her 15-year detention by the armed forces who refused to hand over power following her National League for Democracy party’s sweeping victory in the 1990 elections.

She has been held by the junta since their latest coup in 2021.