Rights groups decry Myanmar executions

Human rights groups have condemned the reported executions of a husband and wife in Myanmar, and have called for international action to prevent what they say are the imminent hangings of five more pro-democracy activists.
Kaung Htet and his wife Chan Myae Thu were put to death at 4am on Monday after being convicted of involvement in a bombing at Insein Prison on October 2022, according to Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
The group did not cite a source for the report but said earlier that “reliable sources” had indicated more executions could follow soon. Executions in Myanmar are usually carried out by hanging.
The military junta arrested the couple and sentenced them to death without due process and a fair trial, said the group. Chan Myae Thu is the first woman to have been executed since the military coup in February 2021, according to the Women’s Peace Network
“Break the silence now,” said Mercy Chriesty Barends, the APHR chairperson and a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives. “Asean foreign ministers must speak up against the SAC execution policy,” she said, referring to the State Administration Council, the official name of the military junta.
“We are gravely concerned that the death penalty is being used to silence persons with dissenting views in Myanmar,” said Arlene Brosas, a Philippines member of Parliament and APHR board member.
APHR said it had received a report from a reliable source that five other pro-democracy activists were scheduled to be executed on Tuesday. They are Zaryaw Phyo (32), San Min Aung (24), Kyaw Win Soe (33), Kaung Pyae Sone Oo (27) and Myat Phyo Pwint (unknown).
The five were sentenced to death on May 18, 2023 in a closed-door civilian hearing at Insein Prison for their alleged participation in a shooting on a train in 2021.
“It is particularly disconcerting that this marks the first instance of the civilian judiciary, rather than a military tribunal, issuing death sentences since the coup, signalling a disturbing shift in the judicial proceedings in Myanmar,” said Kasit Piromya, a former Thai foreign minister and APHR board member.
APHR said its sources indicated the junta was preparing to execute as many as 120 detainees in the coming weeks, most of them activists and human rights defenders, including 15 women.
A United Nations team of investigators on Myanmar is closely monitoring reports that executions could be imminent, its chief said on Monday.
“Imposing a death sentence, or even a period of detention, on the basis of proceedings that do not satisfy the basic requirements of a fair trial may constitute one or more crimes against humanity or war crimes,” Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Geneva-based Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
The junta was widely condemned in 2022 when it executed four democracy activists for aiding “terror acts” by a resistance movement, in what were the country’s first executions in decades.
The military at the time defended the resumption of executions, calling it “justice for the people” and brushing off international outrage. It said those executed had received due process and were not activists, but killers who deserved their punishment.
The military government has ramped up killings and arrests in an apparent bid to silence opponents and recruit soldiers in an escalating conflict, with tens of thousands detained since its 2021 coup, a UN report said last week.
UN rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell last week told a press briefing that, according to credible sources, at least 1,853 people have died in custody since the coup, including 88 children.