The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingya detainees file out of Sadao Immigration this week Photo by refugee aid group By Phuketwan  August 2, 2013 PHUKET: A total of 170 Rohingya have been moved from an overcrowded Immigration centre in Thailand's south where at least five detainees have died in custody. The men were transported out in the aftermath of a protest over the lack of medical assistance for a sick young inmate, according to an aid agency spokesperson. The disruption came at Sadao Immigration centre in Songkhla province on Tuesday night, when caged Rohingya bent the bars on their second-floor enclosure, allowing 10 men to jump to the ground. News outlets in Thailand and at least one government agency reported the incident as a ''riot'' and an ''escape attempt.'' According to sources who spoke to Phuketwan this week, there was never a riot and no escape attempt. The 10 protesters objected to the lack of medical treatment for a sick young man. They wer

A UNHCR staff monitors the situation of Rohingya men in Thailand's Ayutthaya immigration detention centre. © UNHCR/V.Tan UNHCR  August 2, 2013 AYUTTHAYA, Thailand, August 2 (UNHCR) – Every year, millions of tourists flock to Thailand for the sun, sea and shopping. But 17-year-old Saifullah* cries every time he recalls how he got here. "I still cry when I remember the difficulties on the boat," said the young Rohingya about his 16-day ordeal on the high seas with 178 other men in January. "We were 10 days without food, four days without water. The engine broke down. I thought I might never see land again." What drives a teenager to leave home and risk his life on an overcrowded boat for an uncertain future in an unknown destination? "I thought, Life is hell in [Myanmar's] Rakhine state, why don't I take a chance somewhere else?" reasoned Saifullah. Others on the boat share his views. Kamal,* 22, lost his younger brother

Anasuya Sanyal Channel News Asia August 1, 2013 Myanmar's President Thein Sein has called for a line to be drawn between politics and religion in the country. In his regular monthly radio address to the nation, the president warned of the danger of mixing the two, and the possible long-term detrimental impact on society. Myanmar President Thein Sein (AFP/Nicholas Kamm) SITTWE, Myanmar: Myanmar's President Thein Sein has called for a line to be drawn between politics and religion in the country. In his regular monthly radio address to the nation, the president warned of the danger of mixing the two, and the possible long-term detrimental impact on society. His comments come amid simmering ethnic and religious tensions in some parts of the country. In 2012, sectarian violence engulfed the capital city of Sittwe and the city remains a patchwork of religiously segregated zones. In Rakhine state, the country's second poorest which borders Bangl