Unknown group kills brother of National Unity Government human rights advisor

Than Myint, the elder brother of the shadow National Unity Government’s human rights advisor, has been stabbed to death in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, according to his brother Aung Kyaw Moe.

He said a gang attacked his brother near the Nwe Aye Mosque on Wednesday and escaped before the police arrived.

“We are blood [relatives] and I am working on human rights,”Aung Kyaw Moe told RFA Friday.

“I sent facts about this to relevant colleagues and the international community. When the relatives of those involved in the revolution are targeted and killed we must bring justice to those cases.”

Pro-junta activists took to social media to claim responsibility but it is still not clear which group was behind the killing.

Than Myint was from a Rohingya family that used to live in Rakhine state. He and his family members fled Rakhine separately after the Muslim group suffered persecution in 2012 and 2017.

Of the 1 million Rohingya who lived in Rakhine state, three quarters have fled to Bangladesh, while many of the rest live in Internally Displaced Persons camps with inadequate food and shelter.

The National Unity Government’s human rights ministry released a message of condolence for Than Myint’s killing on Friday.

On Thursday, pro-junta Telegram channels called on supporters to release the names of people opposed to the February 2021 military coup and the names of family members of those who have gone into exile.

The killing of Than Myint follows the murder of the mother and sister of one of the men accused of killing pro-junta singer and actor Lily Naing Kyaw in Yangon.

Furious pro-junta groups called for revenge, identifying the alleged killer and giving his address on social media.

Kaung Zarni Hein’s family were shot dead in their home the same night.

More than 3,600 civilians, including pro-democracy activists, have been killed since the coup according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.