Widow urges activists to 'go forward' after four are executed

Ma Nilar Thein, 50, told the Guardian she was heartbroken by the killing of her husband but that the public would "hold our hands together in unity". "We can't stop just because we're sad. And, we can't be mourning. We have to continue our journey by keeping in mind that we will have to eradicate this military regime," she said, referring to the junta that took power in a coup in February 2021.
Kyaw Min Yu, a writer and translator who spent more than 20 years in prison, was one of four prisoners killed in executions last week that horrified people across Myanmar and the world. They had been sentenced to death after closed trials in which they were accused of conspiring to commit terror acts.
Many in the international community had sought to stop the executions, said Ma Nilar Thein, who spoke from hiding, but she added that some wrongly believed the junta would not enact its threat. "The SAC [State Administration Council] didn't care about anything, and they are doing whatever they want," she said, referring to the junta's official title. "Now, the international community should learn that the SAC is not afraid of doing anything."
There are fears that the junta could execute dozens more people who have been sentenced to death since the military coup.
Ma Nilar Thein and her husband were prominent leaders in the democracy uprising of 1988, though that movement was eventually crushed by the military, which killed thousands. They have a 15-year-old daughter.
She said she had not been told when the executions would take place. Kyaw Min Yu had asked the family for some money to spend in the prison, and staff had told them to pay last Monday. But then, on the same day, the family read in the news that he had been executed. The family, and the relatives of the three other men, have since been denied access to their bodies.
Ma Nilar Thein said the public must not give up their fight for democracy. "I want people to go forward with a victory spirit that we will win for sure," she said.
The execution of Kyaw Min Yu, Phyo Zeya Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw provoked condemnation
around the world, as well as mourning and shock across Myanmar.
Sithu Maung, 35, an MP for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, described Kyaw Min Yu as "an artist, a poet and a songwriter, and a revolutionist".
The killings would only drive activists forwards, he said: "We are not the water in their palms, we are the shattered pieces of glass in their palms... They can hold it in any w...