Myanmar to execute two political dissidents
Myanmar's junta will execute a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi's party and a prominent democracy activist in the country's first judicial executions since 1990, a spokesman said on Friday. Four people, including former MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, "will be hanged according to prison procedures", Zaw Min Tun, a junta spokesman told AFP. The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup activists to death in a crackdown on dissent after seizing power last year, but the country has not carried out an execution for decades. Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was arrested in November and 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. "They continued the legal process of appealing and sending a request letter for the amendment of the sentence," said junta Zaw Min Tun. "But the court rejected their appeal and request. There is no other step after that." Two other men, who were convicted and sentenced to death for killing a woman they alleged was an informer for the junta in Yangon, will also be executed, the spokesman said. No date has been set for the executions, Zaw Min Tun said. Phyo Zeya Thaw had been accused of orchestrating several attacks on regime forces, including a gun attack on a commuter train in Yangon in August that killed five policemen. A hip-hop pioneer whose subversive rhymes irked the previous junta, he was jailed in 2008 for membership of an illegal organisation and possession of foreign currency. He was elected to parliament representing Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD in the 2015 elections, which ushered in a transition to civilian rule. Kyaw Min Yu, who rose to prominence during Myanmar's 1988 student uprising against the country's previous military regime, was arrested in an overnight raid in October. The junta issued an arrest warrant for him last year, alleging he had incited unrest with his social media posts. (AFP)