Myanmar announces execution of political detainees

Myanmar has executed four opponents of the military government, Myanmar state media reported on Monday.

Two of those named by the reports were Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old former lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, and Kyaw Min Yu, a 53-year-old veteran pro-democracy activist better known as Ko Jimmy.

They were convicted under the country's counterterrorism law. The death sentences were announced on June 3.

The two other men were convicted of killing a woman they believed was a military informer.

The decision to carry out the executions drew widespread international concern and protest, including a letter from Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hun Sen is currently the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and is leading the group's efforts to try to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.

Hun Sen's letter was unusual because Southeast Asian governments rarely issue statements that could be considered critical of each other's internal affairs.

Myanmar's military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021, after her party's second successive landslide victory at the polls.

Myanmar has since descended into what some UN experts have described as a civil war, with hundreds of newly-formed people's militias – with the support of a number of ethnic armed groups – battling the military's forces, right across the country.

(IMAGE: Pixabay/AP)