The late Myanmar politician and hip-hop singer Phyo Zeya Thaw makes the Council on Foreign Relations’ (CFR) list of 2022 notable deaths, according to the official website of the CFR.

“The list of Ten World Figures Who Died in 2022” includes Phyo Zeya Thaw, Abe Shinzo (Japan’s longest-serving prime minister), Elizabeth II (Britain’s longest reigning monarch), Mikhail Gorbachev (final leader of the Soviet Union), Jiang Zemin (Chinese Communist Party’s former General Secretary), Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (Iraqi Islamist terrorist), Mimi Reinhardt (Austrian Jew who helped the German industrialist Oskar Schindler save more than 1,100 Jews being held at a Nazi labour camp), Ayman al-Zawahiri (Egyptian surgeon and terrorist), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (ultranationalist Russian politician) and Hebe de Bonafini (Argentine activist).

Each figure “made a mark on history. Some were heroes; some were villains. And for some, which they were is your call to make,” said the report of the CFR, which is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations.

“Phyo Zeya Thaw (born 1981) was a Burmese hip-hop star, political activist, and legislator who was executed by the ruling Myanmar military junta for his pro-democracy activities,” said the report of the CFR.

“While in college, he started Myanmar’s first major hip-hop band, Acid. The group was a hit. Anti-government protestors adopted many of its songs in demonstrations that rocked the country in 2007 as part of what became known as the Saffron Revolution. Moved by the protests, Phyo Zeya Thaw organized hip-hoppers into their own anti-government group, Generation Wave. He was arrested in 2008 and spent the next three years in prison.”

In 2012, he became a member of parliament (MP). He was reelected in 2015. During his time as an MP, Phyo Zeya Thaw became an aide to Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military staged a coup, ending the country’s decade-long experiment with democracy. Then, Zeya Thaw participated in the pro-democracy movement, called the Spring Revolution in Myanmar, as a leader.

“Phyo Zeya Thaw was arrested on terrorism charges in late 2021 and convicted in a sham trial. He was hanged in July 2022, along with three other pro-democracy activists Ko Jimmy (Kyaw Min Yu), Hla Myo Aung, and Aung Thura Zaw,” said the CFR.

A Burmese pro-democracy activist said on the condition of anonymity: “It is an honor for Ko Zeya Thaw to be included as a hero in this prestigious list. I also admire him for his brave leadership inside Myanmar. I feel sorry for the loss of valuable people.”