Myanmar's military authorities have executed four democratic activists accused of helping to commit "terrorist acts," state media said Monday. These were the first executions in the Southeast Asian country in decades.
Sentenced to death in a closed trial in January, the four men were accused of helping militias fight the army, which seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a campaign of bloody repression against its opponents.
The Government of National Unity (GoNU) of Myanmar, a shadow administration outlawed by the ruling military junta, condemned the reported executions.
"We are extremely saddened ... We condemn the junta's brutality in the strongest possible terms if this is indeed the case," Cho Zaw, a spokesman for the office of the PNU chairman, told Reuters.
"The world community must punish their brutality," he added.
Among those executed are democratic activist Cho Min Yu, also known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop performer Phyo Zeya To, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. Their appeal against the verdict was unsuccessful. The other people executed were Hla Myou Aung and Aung Tura Zaw.
Phyou Zeya Tho's wife, Tazin Nun Aung, said she was not informed of her husband's execution. Other relatives were not available for comment.
The four were charged under the anti-terrorism law, and the sentence was carried out according to prison procedure, the newspaper reported, without going into detail. Previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging.
According to the Political Prisoners Aid Association, the last judicial executions in Myanmar took place in the late 1980s.