Death of Khant Nyar Hein
Khant Nyar Hein | |
|---|---|
ခန့်ညားဟိန်း | |
| Born | Khant Nyar Hein 2003 or 2004 Yangon, Myanmar |
| Died | 14 March 2021 (aged 17) Tamwe Township, Yangon, Myanmar |
| Other names | Lin Yaozong |
| Occupation | The Martyr of Myanmar's Democracy |
| Parent(s) | Thein Zaw (father) Kyu Thin (mother) |
Khant Nyar Hein (Burmese: ခန့်ညားဟိန်း; 2003/2004 — 14 March 2021), also known as Lin Yaozong (Chinese: 林耀宗), was a Burmese medical student and activist.[1] He was killed during the 2021 Myanmar protests.[2][3][4] Khant Nyar Hein became an icon of the anti-coup protest movement after his death. He is remembered as a martyr of Myanmar's democracy.[5][6][7][8]
Early life
[edit]Khant Nyar Hein was born in 2003 in Latha Township, Yangon, Myanmar into a Burmese-Chinese family. He completed his primary and secondary education at Basic Education High School No. 1 Dagon. At the time of his death, he was a first-year student at University of Medicine 1, Yangon.
Protest and death
[edit]During anti-coup protests in Tamwe Township, he was shot in the head by security forces on 14 March 2021, the bloodiest day until that date during the protests.[9][10] Citizen video shows police approaching his body, beating up and arresting a young girl who was trying to help him, then later dragging his body away.[11][12]
"Please don’t hate Chinese in Myanmar. We were born here", Khant Nyar Hein's mother appealed to the people of Myanmar shortly after her son was shot dead by police.[2] Speaking in fluent Mandarin, she called on the Chinese government to hear their pleas.[13] Hundreds of young mourners spilled out on to the street at the funeral of Khant Nyar Hein.[14][15] Members of the medical community held up the three finger salute at the funeral.[16]
Legacy
[edit]Video of the police's brutal handling of his body in the minutes following the shooting quickly spread on social media and he has become something of an icon for supporters of the pro-democracy movement around the world.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ "緬甸華裔醫學生遭軍警槍殺 母慟：我是中國人但我恨死中國了！ - 國際". 自由時報電子報 (in Chinese). 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
- ^ a b "Myanmar's Ethnic Chinese Deny Allegiance to Beijing as They Risk Lives Against Junta". The Irrawaddy. 18 March 2021.
- ^ "ဆေးတက္ကသိုလ် ကျောင်းသား မောင်ခန့်ညားဟိန်း". BBC Burmese (in Burmese). 17 March 2021.
- ^ "Here Are the Children Killed by the Myanmar Regime's Forces Since Feb. 1". The Irrawaddy. 31 March 2021.
- ^ "Voices of Myanmar's Martyrs Will Not Be Silenced by the Junta". The Irrawaddy. 11 May 2021.
- ^ "စစ်ကောင်စီလက်နက်ကိုင်များက သပိတ်မှောက်ပြည်သူများကို ပစ်ခတ်နှိမ်နင်းမှုတွင် ယခုတစ်ပတ်အတွင်း ကျဆုံးသူမှာ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးကာလ ကျဆုံးသူစုစုပေါင်း၏ ၇၀ ရာခိုင်နှုန်းရှိသည်". Myanmar Now (in Burmese). 21 March 2021.
- ^ "Voices of Myanmar's Martyrs Will Not Be Silenced by the Junta". The Irrawaddy (in Burmese). 11 May 2021.
- ^ "Khant Nyar Hein: A 17-year-old fallen hero of the Spring Revolution who promised to give free treatment to the poor when he becomes a medical doctor". Progressive Voice. 14 March 2021.
- ^ Safi, Michael (16 March 2021). "Mass funerals held in Myanmar as coup death toll revised up to 149". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Residents flee Yangon suburb fearing fresh Myanmar military crackdown, EU readies sanctions". Reuters. 16 March 2021.
- ^ "Protests Force Myanmar's Ethnic Chinese to Distinguish Themselves From China". Radio Free Asia. 16 March 2021.
- ^ a b Son, Yongri (2021-08-05). ""My son was shot like an animal."". NHK. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
- ^ "Family of Myanmar-born Chinese teen shot dead in protests plead with Chinese govt to hear them out". mothership.sg. 18 March 2021.
- ^ "Mass funerals held as Myanmar coup death toll revised up to 149". The Guardian. 16 March 2021.
- ^ "Medical student (17) among dozens mourned in Myanmar after killings by junta". independent.ie. 17 March 2021.
- ^ "Medical student killed in Myanmar protests". ABS-CBN News. 17 March 2021.