INTERNATIONAL: A brief protest was staged in Yangon on Monday 25th July after Myanmar's military junta executed four democracy activists which it accused of helping to carry out 'terror acts'.
Video shows a dozen masked protesters risking arrest by holding the public demonstration at which they displayed a banner reading “We will never be frightened” and called out the names of the executed activists.
There was some applause - apparently from local residents - as they chanted against army and coup leader, General Min Aung Hlaing.
After a short while, the video shows the protesters dispersing and running off.
The executed men were accused of helping a civilian resistance movement that has fought the military since last year's coup and bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
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 ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The two others executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on Myanmar expressed outrage on Monday July 25 after the country’s ruling military executed four democracy activists, adding that he is “fearful” of what might come next.
Myanmar's junta has executed the activists accused of helping to carry out "terror acts," it said on Monday, sparking widespread condemnation of the Southeast Asian nation's first executions in decades.
Sentenced to death in closed-door trials in January and April, the men had been accused of helping a resistance movement to fight the army that seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.
Tom Andrews, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said the executions prove there is “no limits to the depravity” of the junta.
“The junta is despised by most people. They have no support among the population in Myanmar,” he said. “So I think the message for the people inside the country is that no one is safe – ‘There is no limit to what we will do to those who continue to oppose us.’”
Kyaw Min Yu, 53, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old ally of ousted 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.
Andrews said the U.N. has yet to confirm how the executions were conducted, although he said they may have taken place in Insein prison, which he said had “absolutely horrific” conditions.
At least 140 people remain on death row in the country, Andrews said, and “there is every indication” the junta could continue conducting executions.
“I am afraid that even more floodgates are now opening,” he said. “I’m outraged by what’s happened, this is just horrific, but I’m even more fearful of what’s to come.”
