Myanmar junta executes four democracy activists
The Hindu
Executed include democracy figure, former lawmaker and hip-hop artist
Myanmar's military authorities have executed four democracy activists accused of helping carry out "terror acts", state media said on Monday, the Southeast Asian nation's first executions in decades.
Sentenced to death in January in a closed-door trial, the four men had been accused of helping militias to fight the army that seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.
Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration outlawed by the ruling military junta, condemned the reported executions.
"Extremely saddened...condem the junta's cruelty with strongest terms if it's the case," the NUG president’s office spokesman Kyaw Zaw told Reuters via message.
"The global community must punish their cruelty."
Among those executed were 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 against the sentences in June. The two others executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.
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