Myanmar executes activists in first use of death penalty in decades

Bloomberg

Myanmar’s military regime has executed four individuals, including a deposed pro-democracy lawmaker and a prominent activist, in its first use of the death penalty in over three decades, state media reported on Monday.
Kyaw Min Yu, also known as Jimmy, a leader of the activist group that opposed former dictator Ne Win, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a civilian lawmaker overthrown in last year’s coup, were among the four. They were charged with treason and terrorism by a military tribunal this year and were executed for carrying out “brutal and inhumane terror acts such as murdering many innocent people,” according to state-owned English daily, Global New Light of Myanmar.
The executions are the first to be carried out in the overwhelmingly Buddhist Southeast Asian nation since 1988 and follow some 2,000 extra-judicial civilian killings by military forces in less than 18 months, according to estimates last month by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
More than 70% of the countries in the world “have abolished capital punishment in law or practice,” according to the US-based Death Penalty Information Center, an authority in the subject.
The US, which led the international response against the junta since the coup by issuing sanctions against people and entities linked to Myanmar’s military, condemned the executions.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said in a statement that his country “seriously deplores these actions by the Myanmar military,” which will also “lead to deeper conflict due to the hardening of public sentiment and further isolation of Myanmar from the international community.”
Major General Zaw Min Tun, the lead spokesman for the State Administration Council, declined to comment on the news of the executions.