Myanmar has known many, many dark chapters in its history, especially over the past 18 months since the latest coup d’etat. But the execution of four pro-democracy activists — the first judicial executions in more than three decades — plunges the country into even greater darkness.
The news broke less than a week after the country marked its Martyrs Day — the anniversary of the assassination of founding father General Aung San and several members of his cabinet in 1947. Today, his daughter, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, languishes in prison again, and Myanmar has four new martyrs to mourn.
I had the privilege of meeting two of the four: Kyaw Min Yu (aka Ko Jimmy) and Phyo Zeya Thaw. I did not know them intimately, but I met them a few times.
In the course of my human rights work throughout Asia over the past 25 years or more, I have known many friends and acquaintances who have been in jail or run the risk of imprisonment; quite a few have endured shocking torture; some who face death threats; two who have survived assassination attempts; and another two who have been assassinated.
“It shows the world the scale of the depravity, inhumanity, brutality, cruelty and criminality of the illegal military dictator-ship”
But this is the first time any-one I have met has been sentenced to death in cold blood by a dictatorship and the sentence has been carried out.
When the death sentence was imposed on these four earlier this year and upheld against their appeal last month, I was shocked.