YANGON: Myanmar’s military authorities have executed four democracy activists accused of helping carry out “terror acts,” state media reported on Monday, marking the first executions conducted in decades in the Southeast Asian country.
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 planned executions had received international condemnation with two UN experts calling them a “vile attempt at instilling fear” among the people.
The executed men included democracy-figure Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Kyaw Min Yu, 53, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old ally of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, lost their appeals in June.
The other two executed men were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.
The newspaper said the four had been charged under the counter-terrorism law and the penal code and the punishment has been conducted under prison procedures, without elaborating.
Executions in Myanmar have previously been carried out by hanging.
The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group, said the last judicial executions in Myanmar took place in the late 1980s.
A military spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment. Thazin Nyunt Aung, the wife of Phyo Zeyar Thaw, said she had not be informed of her husband’s execution. Other relatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
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 the security forces since the coup, a figure the junta says is exaggerated.
The true picture of the violence has become hard to assess since clashes have spread to more remote areas where ethnic minority insurgent groups are also fighting the military.
Myanmar junta execute four democracy activists — state media
https://arab.news/68qzu
Myanmar junta execute four democracy activists — state media
- The executed men included democracy-figure Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
