What's happening in Myanmar?

Activists fear 'killing spree' in Myanmar after executions

On 25 July, Myanmar’s military junta put four pro-democracy activists to death, the country’s first executions in more than 30 years.

The killings have drawn widespread international condemnation, including a US warning that “there can be no business as usual with this regime”. The regionally influential Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, said the executions are “ highly reprehensible “.

But Myanmar’s government, led for the past 17 months by military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, remains defiant. Defending its execution of the “criminals”, it said the killings weren’t “personal”, just entirely deserved. It added that this was “ justice for the people “.

Britain’s Channel 4 coincidentally screened a long-scheduled documentary ‘ Myanmar: The Forgotten Revolution ‘ on 25 July, just hours after the executions became international news. Using footage shot by anonymous activists in the country, the chilling programme starts in February 2021, when pr…