Myanmar (Burma)
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Myanmar was a cosponsor of the amendments presented...
- News items in the archive
- 148
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Myanmar (Burma) is classified as Abolitionist de facto in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 148 news items on Myanmar (Burma), from 1999 to today.
Latest news
JULY 28, 2026Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR APPROVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR CYBERSCAM OFFENCES
- APRIL 21, 2026Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR PARDONS OVER 4,000 PRISONERS, INCLUDING DEPOSED PRESIDENT
Thousands of prisoners in Myanmar have been granted amnesty or had their sentences reduced.
- AUGUST 20, 2025Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA IMPOSES DEATH SENTENCE TO CRUSH ELECTION DISSENT
Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlain has imposed harsh new punishments for disrupting his planned December election – including the death penalty – as the regime seeks to crush dissent ahead of the vote.
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2024Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: FIRST WOMAN EXECUTED SINCE JUNTA SEIZED POWER, RIGHTS GROUPS SAY
Myanmar’s military regime executed on September 23, 2024 two anti-coup activists, rights groups have said.
- MARCH 10, 2024Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA IMPOSES MULTIPLE DEATH SENTENCES ON ACTIVISTS
Myanmar’s military junta on February 29, 2024 sentenced seven people to death – five of them for the second or third time.
- FEBRUARY 20, 2024Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: 3 BRIGADIER GENERALS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SURRENDERING TOWN
Myanmar's junta has sentenced to death three brigadier generals who surrendered with hundreds of troops and handed over a strategic town on the Chinese border to ethnic minority fighters last month, military sources told AFP on February 19, 2024.
- JANUARY 29, 2024Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: ARMY DENIES THAT GENERALS WERE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SURRENDERING KEY CITY TO INSURGENTS
Myanmar’s military government is denying reports that it sentenced six army generals to death or life imprisonment for their surrender this month of a regional military command headquarters on the border with China to an alliance of ethnic armed groups, A
- JANUARY 24, 2024Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: DEFEATED JUNTA GENERALS GIVEN DEATH SENTENCES
Myanmar’s regime on January 20, 2024 handed death sentences to three brigadier generals who surrendered to the Brotherhood Alliance at Laukkai in northern Shan State.
- OCTOBER 25, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA SENTENCES 7 MEN TO DEATH IN AYEYARWADY REGION
Myanmar’s military regime sentenced seven men in Ayeyarwady region to death, Pyapon township residents told Radio Free Asia over the weekend.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA SENTENCES 4 MEN TO DEATH IN AYEYARWADY REGION
Four men from Ayeyarwady region’s Bogale township have been given the death penalty for murdering a suspected military informer, residents told RFA on September 14, 2023.
- JULY 10, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: TWO ALLEGED ASSASSINS SUMMARILY EXECUTED IN JUNTA CUSTODY
Myanmar’s military reportedly killed two individuals affiliated with the country’s anti-coup armed resistance movement on July 6, 2023 in an apparent summary execution.
- MAY 22, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA COURT HANDS DEATH SENTENCE TO 5 RESISTANCE MEMBERS
Five resistance members accused of shooting dead four police officers on a Yangon train were sentenced to death by a junta court at Insein Prison on May 15, 2023, according to lawyers familiar with the case.
MAY 16, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: MILITARY COUNCIL ADOPTS ARMS ACT THAT CARRIES DEATH PENALTY
The military council on May 11, 2023 enacted the Arms Act, which can impose a minimum sentence of six months to life imprisonment or the death penalty if anyone is found guilty of illegally carrying a weapon and violates any prohibitions.
- MAY 6, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: MILITARY COMMUTES 38 DEATH SENTENCES AS PART OF AMNESTY FOR MORE THAN 2,100 POLITICAL PRISONERS
Myanmar’s ruling military council on May 3, 2023 said it is releasing more than 2,100 political prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.
APRIL 19, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: 151 CIVILIANS SENTENCED TO DEATH SINCE COUP, SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
Myanmar’s military regime has sentenced 151 civilians to death during the two-plus years since the coup in February 2021, according to an April 11 press release from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
DECEMBER 14, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: THREE PRISONERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Myanmar’s military court in June 2022 sentenced Wai Zin Yan, Thu Htoo Aung, and Min Htet Thar to death under section 302 of the penal code for an incident.
DECEMBER 5, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: JUNTA SENTENCES SEVEN STUDENTS TO DEATH
Myanmar’s junta on 30 November 2022 handed down death sentences to seven Dagon University students in Yangon who took part in anti-regime protests.
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
JAPAN TO STOP MYANMAR MILITARY TRAINING OVER JUNTA’S EXECUTION OF ACTIVISTS
Japan’s defense ministry said on 22 September 2022 it will halt training for members of Myanmar’s military from next year over the junta’s executions of pro-democracy activists.
- JULY 25, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA EXECUTES 4 DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS
Myanmar's ruling military has executed four democracy activists accused of helping to carry out "terror acts," it said on 25 July 2022, sparking widespread condemnation of the Southeast Asian nation's first executions in decades.
- JUNE 6, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA SAYS WILL CARRY OUT FIRST JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS IN DECADES
Myanmar's junta will execute a former member of Aung San Suu Kyi's party and a prominent democracy activist, both of whom were convicted of terrorism, in the country's first judicial executions since 1990.
APRIL 4, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: MILITARY TRIBUNAL SENTENCES EIGHT MORE YOUTHS TO DEATH
A Myanmar military tribunal has handed down death sentences to eight more youths accused of attacking junta targets in Yangon, bringing the total number of those facing the death penalty since the coup to over 110.
MARCH 23, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: FIFTEEN YOUTHS IN YANGON SENTENCED TO DEATH AND LIFE IMPRISONMENT
Myanmar military tribunal has sentenced fifteen youths to death and life imprisonment in Yangon, Burma News International reported on 22 March 2022, citing the military council.
JANUARY 30, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: MORE THAN 100 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN YANGON SINCE COUP
Myanmar’s junta has condemned more than 100 people to death in the Yangon region alone since it seized power a year ago, Radio Free Asia reported on 27 January 2022.
- JANUARY 24, 2022Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: TWO PROMINENT ACTIVISTS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Two prominent political activists in military-ruled Myanmar have been sentenced to death on suspicion of being involved in terrorist activities, a military television station reported 21 January 2022.
DECEMBER 21, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: MORE THAN 90 SENTENCED TO DEATH BY MILITARY COURTS
More than 90 people have been sentenced to death by military courts in Myanmar’s Yangon region since the country’s army overthrew civilian rule in a Feb. 1 coup, according to reports in Myanmar’s junta-controlled media.
JULY 21, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: JUNTA TRIBUNALS IMPOSE 65 DEATH SENTENCES
The Myanmar junta’s military tribunals have sentenced 65 people to death following unjust trials since the military coup on 1 February 2021, Human Rights Watch said on 21 July 2021.
- JULY 10, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: MILITARY JUNTA SENTENCES 16 TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF ALLEGED INFORMANT, SONS
Myanmar’s military junta has sentenced 16 people to death for murdering an alleged informant and his two sons in the capital Yangon, local media reported late on 28 June 2021.
- JULY 4, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: AT LEAST 883 CIVILIANS KILLED, 126 SENTENCED TO DEATH SINCE COUP
At least 883 unarmed civilians have been killed by security forces in Myanmar since the military seizure of power in early February and 126 have been sentenced to death.
- JUNE 28, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: AT LEAST 64 PROTESTERS, TWO OF THEM UNDERAGE, SENTENCED TO DEATH BY MILITARY COURTS
At least 64 Myanmar citizens detained in protests against the country’s Feb. 1 military coup have been sentenced to death by junta courts.
- MAY 12, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR STILL IN TURMOIL 100 DAYS SINCE MILITARY COUP
At least 783 people have been killed by the Myanmar military as of 11 May since a February coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).