Myanmar

The executions under the military-led government are the first in decades and raise fears of more to come.

“The junta’s barbarity and callous disregard for human life aims to chill the anti-coup protest movement. “The four men were convicted by a military court in highly secretive and deeply unfair trials.” UN Member States must honor their lives by making this depraved act a turning point for the world's response to this crisis. The military-led government later confirmed the situation “is as stated in the state media”. Myanmar last known execution was in the late 1980s. Human rights groups have expressed fear for other pro-democracy protesters and campaigners, who have been arrested in mass protests amid widespread crackdowns by security forces that the AAPP says have left more than 2,100 people dead.

Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people. We call on the regime in Myanmar to cease violence, release all those unjustly detained ...

Australia is appalled by the execution of four pro-democracy activists in Myanmar and strongly condemns the actions of the Myanmar military regime. Australia has also joined a Statement on Execution of Pro-Democracy and Opposition Leaders in Myanmar Myanmar military regime's execution of pro-democracy activists

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia opposes the death penalty, calling on the junta to release unjustly detained prisoners and end violence in the ...

Close to a million people have been displaced by post-coup unrest. The junta says that figure is exaggerated. However, previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging. It called for a cessation of violence and the release of political detainees. "We extend sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives since the coup." - The UN and international community have condemned Myanmar for the executions

GENEVA (25 July 2022) – UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet today condemned in the strongest terms the execution of four democracy activists by ...

On 3 June, UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed concern at the military’s decision to go ahead with executions and reiterated his calls for the respect of people’s rights to freedom of opinion and expression. Over 11,500 people remain in detention for opposing the military’s seizure of power. For the military to widen its killing will only deepen its entanglement in the crisis it has itself created.”

State department says military government in Yangon has not faced enough economic and diplomatic pressure, amid global outrage at killings.

The UN special rapporteur Thomas Andrews said he was “outraged and devastated” by the executions and called for a strong international response. The execution on Monday of four prisoners including a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and a prominent democracy activist, was Myanmar’s first use of capital punishment in decades, and has heightened concerns that more death sentences will follow. Local media reported that the families of the men had travelled to Insein prison in Yangon demanding to see their loved ones’ bodies. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Beijing “always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs”. US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who met activists from Myanmar in Bangkok this month, voiced confidence the killings would not hinder the country’s democracy movement. Global condemnation has followed, with attention turning to what can be done to prevent further atrocities.

Phyo Zeya Thaw met then prime minister Julia Gillard when he was brought to Australia by AusAid.

And Australia’s response to the junta’s threats was “extremely limp”, he said. Australia has maintained pressure on Myanmar to release Australian Prof Sean Turnell, who was also imprisoned by the Myanmar military. The ABC reported she didn’t know the execution was set to go ahead. He was arrested in November 2021 and sentenced to death this year. “He was Aung San Suu Kyi’s offsider. Phyo Zeya Thaw had originally been imprisoned in 2008 for the subversive, pro-democracy music he created with his band, Acid. After his release in 2011, he went into politics and won a seat, before AusAid brought him to Australia in 2012.

As we watch young protesters become a guerrilla army with just one firearm between them, this startling film lays out the brutality of last year's military ...

This isn’t just a list of atrocities, to be mourned and then forgotten; it is the building of a case. Watching this unfold, it is hard not to contemplate the move to privatise Channel 4, the only mainstream UK broadcaster still attempting journalism of this kind. You could argue that films such as this are all that the people of Myanmar have. What truly startles about this documentary is the access to the people – the painfully youthful and idealistic people – at the heart of this crisis. Meanwhile, the crimes of the junta are deepening. The country is on the streets, protesting against the military coup staged at the beginning of the month by Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces.

The Myanmar military regime's executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders are reprehensible acts of violence that further exemplify the regime's ...

We urge the regime to release all those unjustly detained, grant full and independent access to prisons and fulfill its obligations under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Five-Point Consensus to seek peace through dialogue, not further violence. Our thoughts and condolences are with the bereaved families and loved ones as they grieve those unjustly put to death. A joint statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union, and the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, condemning the military regime’s execution of pro-democracy and opposition leaders in Myanmar.

military crackdown in Myanmar: Over a year after the brutal military crackdown in Myanmar that ousted the elected government, there is not much information ...

Over a year after the brutal military crackdown in Myanmar that ousted the elected government, there is not much information out there showcasing the horror on the grounds. Dispatches is an award-winning investigative current affairs programme on Channel 4 which will air "Myanmar – The Forgotten Revolution" today (July 25, 2022). The Dispatches episode filmed by a group of young Burmese activists over more than a year follows three major mass killings carried out by Myanmar's ruling army and potential war crimes in which soldiers targeted peaceful civilian protesters, reports BBC.

Since its coup in February last year, the military has used terror to assert control: extrajudicial killings, torture and the arbitrary arrest and detention of ...

When the level of suffering inside a country becomes intolerable, the result is a flow of refugees and even greater exploitation of those vulnerable to practices like human trafficking. The cost to Myanmar will be very high and will be paid by generations of Burmese people. After 2011, the military waged a brutal campaign of civil war against the Kachin in the North of the country. Western powers seemed shocked by the suddenness of Myanmar’s return to brutal military dictatorship after almost a decade of a seemingly promising new quasi-democracy. Its existing problems – poverty, sickness, a lack of fuel, food and medicine – have brought the country to crisis point. Since its coup in February last year, the military has used terror to assert control: extrajudicial killings, torture and the arbitrary arrest and detention of protesters.

Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours issued a stinging rebuke on Tuesday of the ruling military's execution of four political activists, calling it "highly ...

Its spokesperson was due to hold a regular news briefing later on Tuesday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com News portal Myanmar Now said some inmates had been assaulted by prison authorities and about 15 of them were separated from the general population. Family members on Monday said they were not informed of their loved ones' executions beforehand, nor allowed to retrieve their bodies. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

"Australia is appalled by the execution of four pro-democracy activists in Myanmar and strongly condemns the actions of the Myanmar military regime," Senator ...

The junta says that figure is exaggerated. "The global community must punish their cruelty." Other relatives could not be reached for comment. In a joint statement, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US, among other nations, labelled the executions as "reprehensible acts of violence that further exemplify the regime's disregard for human rights and the rule of law". "Australia is appalled by the execution of four pro-democracy activists in Myanmar and strongly condemns the actions of the Myanmar military regime," Senator Wong said. "Australia is clear and consistent in our support of human rights around the world," she said.

Cambodia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), says it is “extremely troubled” over the Myanmar military government's ...

ASEAN and Myanmar, which has been a member of the group since 1997, agreed to a Five Point Consensus to end the violence triggered by the military’s February 2021 coup, in April of the same year. Noting ASEAN ministers will meet next week for their summit, the statement said the timing was “highly reprehensible as it created a setback to and present(s) a gross lack of will to support to efforts … in building trust and confidence to engender a dialogue in order to end violence and alleviate the suffering of innocent people”. Cambodia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), says it is “extremely troubled” over the Myanmar military government’s execution of four democracy activists and politicians, adding that the timing of the act – just before a ministerial summit – was “reprehensible”.

The junta's spokesperson brushes off international condemnation of the executions and says the men were given due process. Malaysia says the executions are ...

It was not personal." Myanmar's shadow national Unity Government (NUG), which the junta calls "terrorists", urged coordinated international action against the junta on Tuesday and said those executed "were martyred for their commitment to a free and democratic Myanmar". "There is every indication that the military junta intends to continue to carry out executions of those on death row, as it continues to bomb villages and detain innocent people throughout the country," he said in an interview on Monday. Family members of the condemned prisoners said on Monday they had not been informed of the executions beforehand, and had not been allowed to retrieve the bodies. The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, in a statement from chair Cambodia said it was "extremely troubled and deeply saddened by the executions", as well as by their timing. - ASEAN chair Cambodia said it was "extremely troubled" by the executions, as well as by their timing

Well, one small way to have remedied that might have been not to shove this important, shocking documentary in the graveyard slot of 11.05pm, when many people ...

But look at what they got for their money: five cottages, two barns, a hay loft, a stable, a bakery and two acres of land. True, the buildings in La Busliere that the landscape gardeners Paul and Yip bought in Help! We Bought a Village were complete wrecks, requiring the men to hack away at decades of foliage just to get through the door. The citizens forming a revolutionary army to hit back were remarkable.

Malaysia on Tuesday condemned Myanmar's junta for carrying out the execution of four pro-democracy activists, describing the action as a crime against ...

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The killings demonstrate the regime's contempt for regional and global opinion. Could they force ASEAN to change its approach to the country's conflict?

The U.S. government has said that there can be no “business as usual” following the executions, and that “all options are on the table,” including economic measures to cut off the military’s main sources of revenues. ASEAN’s consensus-based approach to the country’s crisis has not only failed to make inroads, but has been treated essentially with contempt by the military junta. In the nearly 18 months since the coup, these modular statements of outrage and concern have acquired a sort of ritualistic quality, given that they have yet to lead to any substantial support for the resistance struggle. This contempt for ASEAN’s process has the potential to shock the bloc into a reassessment of its approach. Approved in April 2021, the Five-Point Consensus called for an immediate cessation of violence and the opening of inclusive political talks involving “all parties” to the country’s dispute. The executions were announced by the junta last month, after the men’s appeals were rejected.

Phyo Zeya Thaw, a rapper and former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, and the prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, were among those ...

A Yangon-based group of resistance fighters under the national unity government, which was formed in exile by elected politicians, ethnic minority representatives and activists, also vowed to avenge their deaths. In eastern Myanmar, the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force vowed to retaliate against the “war crime”. Activist Ella Chris described Kyaw Min Yu, who rose to prominence as a student leader during the 1988 uprising against the previous military regime, as “an idol for the younger pro-democracy generation”. Before the coup, Ella Chris was an avid cyclist posting fitness videos on social media in between her work on gender equality and land rights. “I wasn’t even able to cry when I heard about the execution, I had suffocation in my heart. It was the recent execution of four prisoners that drove people to revive the protest regardless. Yet the brazenness of the executions was shocking, he added.

Killing of four anti-coup activists has been met with widespread international outrage. Myanmar soldiers are seen patrolling a street in Yangon. Myanmar's ...

“In fact, the families of the four men weren’t informed beforehand either … it took everybody by surprise,” he added. Among those executed were democracy campaigner Kyaw Min Yu, better known as “Jimmy”, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, an ally of former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since the military’s power grab. “This was justice for the people.

The State Department said China has the most potential to influence Myanmar and should exert more economic and political pressure.

“Clearly it is time for Burma’s neighbors to shoulder a larger burden,” he said in a statement. Myanmar’s military first seized power in 1962 but gradually loosened its grip in 2010, allowing for democratic elections and an influx of international companies. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who chairs ASEAN, had previously urged Myanmar’s military leaders not to enforce the death sentences. We remain committed to the people of Burma and their efforts to restore Burma's path to democracy.— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 25, 2022 We are calling on countries around the world to do more. Two other men, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, were also executed, state media reported — all were probably killed by hanging.

The US has urged China to increase pressure on Myanmar following the military junta's execution of four democracy activists. A state department spokesperson ...

However former US ambassador to Myanmar Scott Marciel told the BBC that the Asean plan had been "dead on arrival" last year and countries sympathetic to Myanmar's democracy movement should do more. The activists were arrested after an army-led coup last year and accused of committing "terror acts". They were sentenced to death in a closed-door trial that rights groups criticised as being unjust. He called on all countries to ban sales of military equipment to the country and "refrain from lending the regime any degree of international credibility".

Time is running out as Myanmar's crisis has dragged on for too long. The mass killings, burning of civilian homes, arbitrary arrests and torture continue.

The people from the Southeast Asian nation mourn the deaths of the four men who are regarded as martyrs. They deserve to have their right to life and human dignity restored. It is time now to take real action like international sanctions against Myanmar's junta rulers. Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon said as a cardinal he pleaded from the very depths of his heart with the junta not to hang these men. The United Nations was joined by world leaders -- including the United States, Europe and Japan -- besides global rights groups to vigorously condemn the barbaric act of executing political opponents. World leaders have paid much attention to the Ukraine war, while Myanmar has been completely forgotten.

Myanmar's military junta is losing some control over the country, but its execution of four high-profile leaders and prisoners sends a warning to Myanmar ...

Because of their determination, many people in the country feel that the future is uncertain – but not hopeless. And there is no clear end in sight to the conflict. People of Myanmar have interpreted this stance as willful ignorance to their plight. U.N. human rights experts have said the military junta is a “criminal enterprise” that is systematically committing murder, torture and forced disappearances. Now, hundreds of internal groups in Myanmar are fighting over their vested interests, including territory. Some Myanmar citizens, meanwhile, have donated their incomes, houses and cars to help support revolutionary groups. - Myanmar military But the National League for Democracy’s ascension to power brought about many positive changes, particularly in the country’s heartland, where a major ethnic group, Bamar, live. - Myanmar The political executions of these activists were the first in many decades for Myanmar, which has vacillated from military control to emerging democratic leadership over the past few decades. The military responded with conducting mass arrests and killing civilians. I am a scholar of Myanmar politics and culture.