| Honorific Prefix: | U |
| Birth Date: | 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Pyinmana, Myanmar |
| Alma Mater: | Mandalay University |
| Occupation: | Human rights lawyer |
Khin Maung Zaw (born 1948), known honorifically as U Khin Maung Zaw, is a Burmese lawyer and human rights activist based in Myanmar.[1] [2] He represented Aung San Suu Kyi,[3] among other Myanmar nationals who receive undemocratic trials.[4]
Zaw was born in Pyinmana in 1948,[5] soon after British rule in Burma ended. As a student at Mandalay University, he attempted to form a students' union, which had been banned during the ruling of Ne Win. For his activism, he was sent to a prison camp on the Coco Islands. In 1972, he was released, until being re-imprisoned for two years in 1978 for joining a student protest. He obtained a degree in law from Mandalay University at age 37.
In 2017, Zaw took represented two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for uncovering a massacre of Rohingya muslims.[6]
Zaw serves as the lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi, a former state counsellor of Myanmar who played a vital role in the country's transition to partial democracy,[7] who was charged for several offences.[8]
When Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won elections in 2015, beginning a precarious power-sharing with the military, Khin Maung Zaw distanced himself from the political party.