The Stateless Rohingya Blog

A Muslim Rohingya woman feeding her child at their tent at the Dabang Internally Displaced Persons (AFP) OnIslam & Newspapers February 12, 2013 CAIRO – Surviving on handouts and unable to look for work outside refugee camps, Rohingya Muslims are forced by Burmese authorities to take hazardous journeys by sea to flee persecution in their country. “There are no opportunities here for us, no hope,” Abu Kassim, a Rohingya Muslim, told The Washington Post on Tuesday, February 12. “We are prisoners.” Like thousands of fellow Rohingya, Abu Kassim lives in a refugee camp in western Burma after fleeing his home in Rakhine after attacks by Buddhist mobs in June. The 26-year-old Muslim was neither able to return to his home, fearing attacks by Buddhists, nor work outside the camp. This has left him with no other option but to try to cross the Bay of Bengal by sea to look for a better life outside Burma. Estimates show that several thousands of Rohingya M

Inside the old Mosque Photo Image: Nora Rowley Maungdaw, Arakan State:  A Rohingya religious leader was arrested and detained, by Nasaka personnel of Nasaka area No. 8 of Maungdaw Township on February 9, said a local villager. “He was arrested by the Nasaka personnel over the allegation that he was involved in the violence of last year 2012, which was occurred between Rakhine and Rohingya communities.” The arrested has been identified as Religious leader- Maulana – Noor Hasan (35), son of Noor Mohammed, hailed from Udaung village under the Maungdaw Township. According to sources, Nasaka personnel have been trying to arrest him in his village in several times, but Nasaka was unable to arrest him. However, recently, Nasaka was taking photographs and checking the family lists in the Udaung village, as per Nasaka scheduled, so the religious leader went to the Nasaka officer to negotiate of his matter. At last, religious leader has compromised his problem by giving Ky

Maungdaw, Arakan State:   Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) and police make Rohingya villagers in panic after the killed and injured Rakhines of Nyaung Bin Gyi Ywa Thit (Rakhine village) under the village tract of Ngakura of Nasaka area No.5 in Maungdaw south, said a Rohingya leader from Maungdaw Town on condition of anonymity. “The Nasaka of Ngakhura Nasaka camp and police of Bawli Bazar (Kyein Chaung) jointly attacked  the Rohingya villages and  arrested Rohingya villagers arbitrarily  from — Hati Para, Zaydi Pyin,  Nai Tha Pru (Pan Mraung)  and loung Don villages— of Loung Don village tract of Maugdaw south after one Rakhine killed and three injured in their village at night on February 10.” On February 12, at about 9am to 11 am, the Nasaka personnel and police arrested five villagers from Hati Para and Pan Mraung villages. They are identified as—Jamal Hussain(53), son of Abdu Salam, Jaker(28), son of Rashid, Rahmat Ali( 32), son of  Hydor Ali, Fori Dulla

Human rights activist Aung Win. (DVB) Source DVB February 12, 2013 By HANNA HINDSTROM A prominent Rohingya human rights activist and interpreter, who has helped many international journalists travelling to the conflict-torn Arakan state in western Burma, was detained by authorities in Sittwe on Tuesday morning, local police have confirmed. Aung Win, an ethnic Rohingya with Burmese citizenship, was arrested around 10am this morning on his way to Sittwe’s Muslim quarter, Aung Mingalar. Local sources say he was hoping to meet with the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Quintana, who was visiting the state-capital as part of his latest Burma tour. Local police told DVB that he was “found walking in the streets” and taken to “the station for his own safety”. They alleged that he has since been released and returned to his home village on the outskirts of Sittwe. But local sources said they had been told by a police officer that he would not be rele

Muslim women in Arakan state's Sittwe hold ID cards while they wait to cast ballots during the 2010 general elections. (Reuters)  By DVB  February 12, 2013 Immigration officials in Burma’s restive Arakan state have been instructed by authorities to prevent all Muslims from travelling outside of their townships, according to local sources. An immigration official in Sandoway township in southern Arakan state told DVB that authorities from the state government had called their department on the phone on Monday to pass on the order. “I don’t know much about it apart from that it [came by] phone instruction from the Arakan state government,” said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We just found out today when our supervisor spoke to senior officials on the phone.” A local resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity in Sandoway township said she was told by the chief district immigration official that they had received orders to preve