The Stateless Rohingya Blog

A man stands in front of a mosque as it burns in Meikhtila March 21, 2013 redit: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun Amnesty UK: March 22, 2013 Violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Burma that reportedly left several people dead demonstrates an urgent need for Burmese authorities to protect people at risk, Amnesty International said. On Wednesday, violent clashes broke out between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Meiktila, a town in Burma’s Mandalay Division, following a dispute at a Muslim-owned gold shop. According to local sources, several people have been killed. There was also widespread damage to property in the town, including the destruction of mosques and a government building. Tensions between Muslim and Buddhists have been heightened in certain parts of Burma, such as in Rakhine state where violence erupted in June 2012. Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director Isabelle Arradon, said: “These latest reports of violence are very wor

Captured Rohingya at a Phuket police station awaiting detention Photo by phuketwan.com/file Phuket_Wan: March 22, 2013 By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian PHUKET: A Rohingya man has died while in the care of Thai authorities, hospital sources confirmed today. The man, identified as Muhamad Usen, aged about 30, was taken from the Immigration facility in Sadao, where he was being held, to Had Yai Hospital on March 18. He died the next day, the source said. On Wednesday, his body was handed over to local Muslims for burial. It is believed he came from the troubled township of Sittwe, in Burma. The man was not recorded as a Rohingya, but as a ''Burmese Muslim.'' This bureaucratic lie is an indication that Thai authorities now support the Burmese Government's racist contention that Rohingya do not exist as a separate ethnic group. Another source told Phuketwan that the man's death was related to untreated injuries inflicted by peo