Asean MPs horrified by Myanmar's plan to execute 4 political prisoners
Among those slated for execution include a prominent former MP Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw and well-known pro-democracy activist, Kyaw Min Yu, better known as “Ko Jimmy”.
Zeya Thaw was an MP with the NLD party, chaired by deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Both Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy were convicted on charges of terrorism.
“Asean and the international community must...
MPs from Southeast Asia have expressed their horror and alarm at an announcement by the Myanmar junta that it will carry out the death sentences handed down to four political prisoners.
Among those slated for execution include a prominent former MP Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw and well-known pro-democracy activist, Kyaw Min Yu, better known as “Ko Jimmy”.
Zeya Thaw was an MP with the NLD party, chaired by deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Both Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy were convicted on charges of terrorism.
“Asean and the international community must use every means at their disposal to prevent these executions from taking place.
"If they are carried out, they will be nothing less than cold-blooded political assassinations," said Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) chairperson Charles Santiago.
He said these executions would further prevent the already remote possibility of sustainable political dialogue, as prescribed over a year ago in the Five-Point Consensus agreed to by Asean member states and Min Aung Hlaing’s junta, which Charles said has not made any effort whatsoever in that direction.
These death sentences would be the first known judicial executions in the country since 1988, according to Amnesty International, which considers Myanmar as “Abolitionist in Practice”, as it retains the death penalty in law, but has not applied it for decades.
Ever since the coup in February last year that ousted the democratically elected government, Myanmar has seen a drastic surge in the number of people sentenced to death, with at least 86 on death row, including minors who were under 18 at the time.
"The Myanmar military has killed at least 1,887 protesters since the coup, but it is attempting to give a veneer of legality to the execution of the four men.
"Yet it is abundantly clear that, as in dozens of sentences handed by military tribunals, there was no respect for fair trial rights.
"APHR unreservedly supports the recent United Nations Secretary-General’s statement reminding Myanmar’s military that the death sentences are a blatant violation of the right to life, liberty and security of persons, as per Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Charles said.
He said the declaration also enshrines the principles of equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal and all of the guarantees necessary for a person’s defence.
“This announcement should be viewed in the context of the increasingly brazen atrocities being committed by the Myanmar military in order to consolidate its power in the face of widespread popular resistance.
"The junta is killing, torturing and arbitrarily arresting Myanmar people with an impunity that owes a great deal to the failure of the international community to hold it accountable for its crimes,” said Charles, who is also the Klang MP.
The APHR called on each and every member state of Asean to urgently demand an unconditional and immediate stay of execution and release of the four detainees by the self-declared State Administration Council.
"They must individually and collectively make a stand before it is too late, not only for these four but for all those currently arbitrarily detained and who should be immediately and unconditionally released," Charles added.
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