In the first use of capital punishment in over two decades, the Myanmar Junta executed four democracy activists reportedly for helping carry out ‘terror act.’
The Guardian reported Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) who was arrested in November, was sentenced to death in January for offences under anti-terrorism laws. Prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, better known as “Jimmy”, received the same sentence from the military tribunal.
The two other men and sentenced to death for killing a woman they alleged was an informer for the junta in Yangon.
Reuters reported the four were sentenced to death in January in a closed-doors trial, accused of helping militias to fight the army that seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.
The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup activists to death as part of its crackdown on dissent after seizing power last year, but Myanmar has not carried out an execution for decades. The junta was heavily criticised by international powers when they announced last month their intention to carry out the executions.
