Phyo Zeya Thaw, alongside opposition leader and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected to the lower house on 1 April 2012.

[2] On 23 July 2022, Phyo Zeya Thaw and three other democratic activists, including Kyaw Min Yu (Ko Jimmy), were executed.

[7] The Independent stated that while the band "focused on the mundane, their lyrics inevitably touched on the hardships of life in Burma, drawing them into dangerous territory.

[5] Phyo Zeya Thaw was one of four founding members of Generation Wave, a youth movement opposed to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDP), Myanmar's military rulers.

[5] The group also circulated anti-government films, including Rambo,[9] in which the titular character battles Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) soldiers in Karen State.

[11] As of February 2010, about thirty members of the group had been imprisoned,[12] including Phyo Zeya Thaw, who was arrested at a Yangon restaurant with friends on 12 March 2008.

[15] Amnesty International described this statute as "a vaguely worded law whose sweeping provisions can be interpreted as making it illegal to set up any kind of organization".

[14] He was given an additional year's imprisonment for possession of foreign currency, as he had been carrying approximately $20 USD in Thai baht, Singapore dollars, and Malaysian ringgit at the time of his arrest.

[9][16] In August 2011, he was banned by the Mingala Taungnyunt Township Police Station from performing at a stage show on Kandawgyi Lake's Hmyawzin Island.

The Asia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, spoke of politically motivated trials and pointed out that the families of the condemned had only learned of the executions through media reports.