Prison Department spokesperson denies execution rumours

Rumours that four condemned prisoners, including prominent political figures Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zayar Thaw, are about to be hanged are untrue, according to a Prison Department spokesperson.

“We have not received any proposal, notification or order regarding the death sentences,” the spokesperson, Khin Shwe, said when contacted by Myanmar Now.

He added, however, that he did not know where Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zayar Thaw are currently being held.

Rumours began to circulate late Wednesday night that Ko Jimmy, a veteran of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, and Phyo Zayar Thaw, a former MP from Myanmar’s ousted ruling party, would be hanged along with two others at Yangon’s Insein Prison on Thursday morning.

The rumours appeared to originate within the prison itself, which is holding many of the thousands of political prisoners arrested since last year’s coup.

“I heard the prisoners say that Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zayar Thaw were going to be executed tomorrow morning,” a lawyer who frequently visits the prison said on Wednesday night.

Earlier this month, the junta indicated that it was planning to execute Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zayar Thaw, who it accused of plotting acts of terror, as well as Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, both convicted for murdering military informants. 

The decision met with strong condemnation from within Myanmar and in the international community, but on June 7, junta spokesperson General Zaw Min Tun reiterated that the regime would go ahead with the executions as planned.

On Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that carrying out the country’s first judicial executions since 1990 would “violate the right to life.”  

“I urgently call on military authorities to refrain from such a regressive step,” she told the UN Human Rights Council. 

Some foreign embassies inside Myanmar have also stated that the junta has no authority to go through with the executions because it is not the legitimate government of the country.

According to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are currently 73 people facing the death penalty in Myanmar, including two minors and 41 people sentenced in absentia.