Citing the Dagon University Students’ Union, the report stated that the seven were arrested in April for alleged involvement in the killing of Saw Moe Win, a former military officer who managed a branch of the state-owned (and hence, junta-linked) Global Treasure Bank, who was shot dead that month in South Dagon township.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which keeps a daily running total of those killed and imprisoned by the military government, reported that four other youths were also sentenced to death Wednesday, presumably also for anti-regime activities.Historically, Myanmar’s military governments have tended to commute most death sentences to life in prison, but in late July, the junta took the chilling step of executing four political prisoners, including veteran activist Phyo Zeyar Thaw, a lawmaker in the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, and the veteran pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy.While the AAPP has confirmed that the military junta has killed at least 2,553 people since seizing power in February 2021, the executions were widely viewed as an escalation of the military government’s campaign of fear against the growing resistance to its rule, which has now grown shoots in all parts of the country, even in areas of central Myanmar that were once considered military strongholds.In an editorial published a few days after the executions, The Irrawaddy warned the world that “Myanmar’s barbaric regime is planning to execute more political prisoners on death row in the coming days and weeks.” While it does not appear to have happened so far, the junta is in a position to escalate its war on a whim – and evidently has few compunctions about doing so."