Myanmar sentences National League for Democracy lawmaker, democracy activist to death over 'terror charges'

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's junta sentenced a member of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted party to death for terror offences on Friday (Jan 21), a statement said.

Phyo Zeyar Thaw, a member of the National League for Democracy arrested in November, was "sentenced to the death penalty today under anti-terrorism act", the junta said.

Prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu - better known as "Jimmy" - received the same sentence from the military tribunal, the junta statement said.

The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup activists to death as part of its crackdown on dissent, but Myanmar has not carried out an execution for decades.

Phyo Zeyar Thaw - whose real name is Maung Kyaw - was arrested at an apartment in the commercial hub Yangon following a "tip-off and cooperation from dutiful citizens", the junta's information team said.

He had been accused of orchestrating several attacks on regime forces, including the brazen shooting on a commuter train in Yangon in August that killed five policemen.

He was elected to Parliament from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in the 2015 elections that ushered in a transition to civilian rule.

The South-east Asian country has been in turmoil since the coup sparked massive protests and a bloody military crackdown on dissent, which has killed more than 1,400 people according to a local monitoring group.

Source: straitstimes.com, Agence France-Presse, January 21, 2022

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