\n Myanmar's junta lashed out Tuesday against international condemnation of the country's first use of capital punishment in decades, saying the four executed prisoners -- two of them prominent democracy fighters -- \"deserved many death sentences.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The executions announced Monday sparked condemnation from around the globe, heightened fears that more will follow and prompted calls for sterner international measures against the already-isolated junta.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the military authorities were defiant, with spokesman Zaw Min Tun insisting the men \"were given the right to defend themselves according to court procedure\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"If we compare their sentence with other death penalty cases, they have committed crimes for which they should have been given death sentences many times,\" he said at a regular press briefing in the capital Naypyidaw.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"They harmed many innocent people. There were many big losses which could not be replaced.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The prisoners, who included a former lawmaker from ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, had been allowed to meet family members through video conferencing, he said, without providing details.\n<\/p>\n
\n The junta had previously rejected criticism from the UN and western countries over the death sentences.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Extremely troubled' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was sentenced to death in January for offences under anti-terrorism laws.\n<\/p>\n
\n Democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu -- better known as \"Jimmy\" -- received the same sentence from the military tribunal.\n<\/p>\n
\n The two other men were sentenced to death for killing a woman they alleged was an informer for the junta in Yangon.\n<\/p>\n
\n The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup activists to death as part of its crackdown on dissent after seizing power last year, but Myanmar had not carried out an execution in decades.\n<\/p>\n
\n After a chorus of international condemnation on Monday, including from the UN, the United States and European countries, there was fresh criticism of the junta on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, which has led diplomatic efforts to end the crisis, said it was \"extremely troubled and deeply saddened\" by the executions.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a statement issued by current chair Cambodia, it accused the junta of a \"gross lack of will\" to engage with ASEAN's efforts to facilitate dialogue between the military and its opponents.\n<\/p>\n
\n In Bangkok, hundreds of people staged a noisy protest outside the Myanmar embassy.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some held photos of Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zeya Thaw alongside Aung San Suu Kyi as they chanted \"We want democracy.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n And Malaysia's foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah slammed the executions calling it a \"crime against humanity\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He called for a review of the so-called five-point consensus agreed by Southeast Asian leaders last year aimed at defusing the political crisis in Myanmar following a coup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Myanmar's junta lashed out Tuesday against international condemnation of the country's first use of capital punishment in decades, saying the four executed prisoners -- two of them prominent democracy fighters -- \"deserved many death sentences.\" The executions announced Monday sparked condemnation from around the globe, heightened fears that more will follow and prompted calls for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-104030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n