Myanmar’s junta has approved the death sentences passed on former National League for Democracy lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw and veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy for their anti-regime activities. Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw is 40. Ko Jimmy is 53 and a former leading member of the 88 Generation Student Group. Both men were arrested late last year and given death sentences in January for masterminding armed resistance operations in Yangon. If the executions go ahead, they will be the first political dissidents to be executed since ethnic Chin student leader Salai Tin Maung Oo was hanged by dictator General Ne Win’s authoritarian regime at Yangon’s Insein Prison in 1976. Since last year’s coup, the military regime has sentenced 113 people to death for their roles in the armed resistance to the junta.
