Myanmar’s military-backed parliament on Tuesday passed a law that allows the death penalty for people who use violence or unlawful detention to force others to run online scams. Under a draft published in May, if that abuse causes the victim’s death, “the death penalty shall be imposed.”
The same draft set a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for anyone who operates an online scam center or commits “digital currency scams (crypto scams).” Offenses involving coercion carry prison terms ranging from 10 years to life. Lower house lawmaker Aye Chan told AFP that the death penalty provision remained in the version that was approved and that “the important parts of the bill remained the same.” The full text has not been released.
First law passed under Min Aung Hlaing’s government
The bill is the first law passed by the government of Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup and took office as civilian president in April.
Under Myanmar’s constitution, one quarter of the seats in both houses, 166 in total, are reserved for the military. In phased elections, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP, won 339 of the remaining seats, while the dissolved party of Aung San Suu Kyi was unable to contest.
Scam compounds across Asia remain in focus
The law comes as scam compounds across the region face increasing attention. In May 2025, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Karen National Army, formerly the Karen Border Guard Force, as a transnational criminal organization. Treasury said the militia’s territory on the Thai border “is home to multiple cyber scam syndicates” and that it “has benefitted from its connection to Burma’s military.” The KNA has denied involvement in scams.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that scam operations across East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania drove between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in losses in 2025. People from at least 80 countries were found inside the compounds.
Elsewhere in the region, Cambodia has advanced its own bill that would set life terms for scam compound bosses. U.S. prosecutors this month seized $25 million in crypto tied to scams routed through the region. The UN agency has also warned that police in the region still cannot trace the proceeds on-chain.
Death penalty policy has shifted in recent years
Myanmar resumed judicial executions in 2022, hanging four activists in the first such killings since 1976.
In April, days after taking office, Min Aung Hlaing commuted every death sentence in the country to life imprisonment. Three months later, his parliament has now created new offenses that can carry the death penalty.