The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar said he was “outraged and outraged” by the execution of “these patriots and fighters for human rights and democracy”.
The execution by Myanmar’s military junta of four prisonersincluding a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, was an “act of extreme inhumanity”, the non-governmental organization said today Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, HRW).
“The governments of EU member states, the US and other countries must show the junta that it will pay for its crimes,” said Elaine Pearson, the NGO’s Asia director.
The executions carried out by the military regime are the first in more than 30 years, according to the non-governmental organization Aid to Political Prisoners.
They amount to “arbitrary deprivations of life and are yet another example of Myanmar’s appalling human rights record,” said Amnesty International’s regional director, Erwin van der Borcht. Those executed “were tried by military courts under extreme secrecy and in a profoundly unfair manner. The international community must act immediately’, as ‘over 100 people are believed to be awaiting execution following their convictions in similar proceedings’.
Tom Andrews, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said he was “outraged and outraged” by the execution of “these patriots and human rights and democracy activists”, adding that “my heart goes out to the families to them, to their friends and loved ones and to all who fall victim to the junta’s escalating atrocities.”
“These heinous acts must be a turning point for the international community,” added Mr. Andrews.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi discounted the executions as further isolating Myanmar internationally and expressed deep concern. Mr. Hayashi, according to a press release published by his services, estimated that the development would deepen the conflict in the country, while he pointed out that the military regime despises the repeated calls from Tokyo to resolve the crisis in a peaceful way and to release the political prisoners.
For Richard Horsey, an analyst at the International Crisis Group institute specializing in Myanmar, after the executions “any possibility of dialogue to end the crisis created by the coup has now been erased. In this way this regime shows that it will do what it wants to do and will not listen to anyone. He made what he believes was a show of strength, but he may have made a serious mistake.”
The army continues its bloody campaign to suppress its opponents. Over 2,100 civilians have been killed and over 15,000 arrested since the coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, according to figures from the Political Prisoners’ Aid Union.
The armed forces are also accused of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. In 2017, more than 740,000 minorities took refuge in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing their homes to escape brutality by the military and paramilitaries.
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