Monday, September 4th., 2017 Rohingya beheaded, burned alive in Myanmar: Witnesses
Monday, September 4th., 2017
Rohingya beheaded, burned alive in Myanmar: Witnesses
Sun Sep 3, 2017 6:4AM
This photo
shows the burned remains of a house in the Muslim Myo Thu Gyi Village,
near the town of Maungdaw, in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, on August
31, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Government forces in
Myanmar have beheaded and burned alive Rohingya Muslim civilians,
including children, witnesses say, as calls grow to stop the “genocide”
against the minority Muslims living in the Buddhist-majority country.
Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where the minority Rohingya are
concentrated, has been the scene of violence by the army. Before a
military siege was imposed on Rakhine late last year, extremist
Buddhists would attack the Muslims.
The Independent cited eyewitnesses in a report on Saturday
as giving “horrific accounts of violence and destruction” by Myanmarese
soldiers and other unidentified armed groups.
The report cited a man named Abdul Rahman as saying that he had survived a five-hour attack on Chut Pyin Village.
He said a group of Rohingya men had been arrested and detained in a bamboo hut, which was then set on fire.
“My brother was killed, [Myanmarese soldiers] burned him with the
group,” he said. “We found [my other family members] in the fields. They
had marks on their bodies from bullets and some had cuts.”
“My two nephews, their heads were off. One was six years old and the
other was nine years old. My sister-in-law was shot with a gun,” he
said.
This image shows Myanmarese forces passing through the
Muslim Myo Thu Gyi Village, where houses were burnt to the ground, near
the town of Maungdaw, in northern Rakhine State, on August 31, 2017. (By
AFP)
Survivors from other villages in the region have been giving similar
accounts of violence carried out against the members of the minority
group as the government denies access to journalists and relief workers
to enter the conflict zone.
“Satellite imagery shows the total destruction of a Muslim village,
and prompts serious concerns that the level of devastation in northern
Rakhine State may be far worse than originally thought,” said Phil
Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. UK urges action
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called on Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the violence.
A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Suu Kyi has done next to nothing to end the plight of the minority Muslims.
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) welcomes
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, January
20, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Johnson appealed to Suu Kyi to make stronger efforts to resolve the
issue. He warned her that the violence was “besmirching” Myanmar’s
reputation.
The UK is a former colonizer of Myanmar. ‘Genocide’ & ‘pogrom’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that a bout of
violence that killed many Rohingya Muslims last week was “genocide.”
Almost 400 people died in Myanmar’s Rakhine in a stepped-up military crackdown on the Rohingya last week. Read more:
Rohingya Muslims, a community of more than a million people, have been denied citizenship and access to basic rights in Myanmar.
Francis Wade, the author of a book about violence against the Rohingya, has said the atrocities constitute “a pogrom.” Military urges Rohingya to help hunt militants
Meanwhile, the Myanmarese military has been urging the Rohingya
Muslims to help hunt down militants allegedly fighting to defend the
minority Muslims.
Local media said the military was using loudspeakers to urge the
Rohingyas to cooperate with its forces and provide information on the
alleged militants.
