Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in the case of Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin who have frantically been trying to get the Thai courts to overturn their death sentence, desperate measures mean doing what all Myanmar people do when caught in a tough situation: go to a fortune teller.
The pair’s case was brought to Swe Swe Win — more commonly known as ET, one of the country’s most prominent fortune tellers — in the hopes that she could work some magic before their next (and final) appeal to the Thai Supreme Court.
On his Facebook page, Htoo Chit, director of the Foundation for Education Development which helps Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, posted photos of an amnesty request that ET drafted and asked to be delivered to the Thai king. He wrote, “We do appreciate to [sic] fortune teller ET and her team, and it would be very helpful for the case.” Various high ranking officials in both Myanmar and Thailand have come to ET for guidance in the past, including former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra; it is rumored that she was also one of General Than Shwe’s top advisors when he was in power.
In the letter, ET wrote that Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin had been ‘falsely arrested and convicted.’ She requested that the king overturn the death sentence and prompted for ‘fair justice and the truth has been [sic] sooner found out for the reputation of Thailand and Myanmar.’ The letter was handed over to the Thai ambassador to Myanmar, Jukr Boon-Long, who will in turn deliver it to the king.
“My son is innocent. The real culprits weren’t apprehended, but they gave my innocent son the death penalty — please help me with this. I would be able to handle it [the sentence] if he actually were guilty. They submitted an appeal but it was rejected. My dear son is about to die, so I would like to ask for an intervention as quickly as possible,” Win Zaw Tun’s mother May Thein told 7Day at the time.
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