Myanmar Approves Death Penalty for Forced Scam Labor, Life for Crypto Fraud
Myanmar’s military-backed parliament passed a law imposing the death penalty for people who use violence or unlawful detention to force others to run online scams. If the abuse leads to the victim’s death, execution is required. The law also keeps harsh penalties for running scam centers or crypto scams, including up to life imprisonment. This is the first law passed under Min Aung Hlaing since the 2021 coup. The full text has not been released, but lawmakers said the core provisions remained unchanged from the draft. The move comes amid a wider regional crackdown on cyber-scam compounds that have caused huge global losses and operated across Southeast Asia, often involving trafficked workers. Myanmar resumed executions in 2022 after decades without them, and the new law creates fresh death sentences even after Min Aung Hlaing recently commuted all existing ones to life imprisonment.
