The Stateless Rohingya Blog

KPN News August 31, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State:  A man with weapons was arrested by police on August 29, Ngarsar Kyeu (Nitha Pru village) under Lounddon police station of Maungdaw north while he was chasing cowboys who were grazing there cattle in the field, a village elder said on condition of anonymity.  “The man spoke in Rakhine language and told to a village Admin that he is from Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State and came to visit his relatives.”  Being informed, a group of police personnel from Lounddon police station came to the spot and arrested the man with one pistol, 30 rounds of bullets, 6 local made bombs and a knife in his bag.  However, this information was reached to a nearby military camp, and a group of military led by one officer (captain name unknown) also came to the spot and took away the arrestee from the hands of police by saying that---“He is our man, going to mad and missing from the camp 2 to 3 days ago,” said one of village administr

KP NEWS Police extorted about 350,000 Kyat from a schoolteacher after he stood accused of using a Bangladeshi SIM card in a mobile phone, according to relative who didn’t want to be named for security. The alleged victim teaches at a government primary school in northern Maungdaw. The man was arrested after police came to his village to accuse him. Although the police didn’t find the phone they still arrested and detained him at the station in Gyikan Pyin. The man was released after he paid the bribe. State authorities have already declared that the use of  mobile phones with Bangladesh SIM cards is illegal for use in the border areas. Possession of one is punishable by law. But reports have emerged that the police are falsely accusing people in order to steal money. Many people hoped that when Burma’s border guard force Nasaka was dissolved recently this kind of racketeering by authorities would be over. But it seems that the national police force, and the army, which have re

Associated Press in Canberra    Saturday, 31 August, 2013 A member of the public poses for a picture taken by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (left) next to opposition leader Tony Abbott. Photo: Reuters The Australian opposition pledged on Saturday to slash the amount of money the government spends on legal assistance for asylum seekers if it wins national elections next week. The soaring costs for taxpayers of an increasing number of asylum seekers reaching Australian shores by boat is a hot-button issue ahead of the elections on September 7. Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison announced on Saturday that he expects savings of  $A100 million (or US$89 million) over four years by scrapping a government policy of providing free lawyers and migration agents to advise refugee seekers on lodging asylum claims and appealing rejections of the claims. “There is no provision under the [United Nations] Refugee Convention which compels a c

BDNews24 August 31, 2013 An Arakan State court reportedly sentenced 76 Rohingya Muslims to lengthy prison terms last week for their alleged roles in an outburst of deadly inter-communal violence in Maungdaw Township in June last year, according to a human rights group and a local media report. At least seven were sentenced to life imprisonment, says 'Irrawaddy', a top Myanmar-related website. The Thailand-based Arakan Project, which advocates for the rights of the Rohingyas, said a total of 76 Muslim defendants from Maungdaw Township had been sentenced at Buthidaung and Maungdaw township courts last week. “On 20 and 21 August, Buthidaung Court sentenced 43 Rohingya detainees, all from Ba Gone Nar Village Tract in Maungdaw South, in relation to the June [2012] violence. Of them, 35 were sentenced to 17 years, four to 6 years and four to life imprisonment,” the group said in a draft report that it recently submitted to the UN special envoy on the human ri

Residents walk past buildings burning in riot-hit Meiktila, central Myanmar on March 21, 2013. photo AFP By Richard S. Ehrlich Huffington Post August 30, 2013 (RNS) Buddhists are killing Muslims in Myanmar with impunity because the government failed to stop the attacks, New York-based Physicians for Human Rights reported amid fresh assaults that left more Muslims homeless. During the past year, scattered clashes across Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma, have left more than 240 people dead, most of them Muslims. A mob of about 1,000 Buddhists burned more than 35 Muslim homes and a dozen shops on August 24 in Kanbalu in Myanmar’s central Sagaing Division after hearing rumors that a Muslim man sexually assaulted a young Buddhist woman, police told The Associated Press. Police arrested a male Muslim suspect but refused the mob’s demand to hand him over, sparking its arson attack against his innocent Muslim neighbors, police said. The fires also destr

Ketsarin Tiawsakul, director of the HRC’s human rights infringement investigation office. Photo: Ketsarin Tiawsakul / Facebook Phuket Gazette August 31, 2013 PHUKET: The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) yesterday confirmed that the report on the case of the Royal Thai Navy opening fire on Rohingya refugees off the coast of Ranong in February, will be concluded this month. During the shooting, naval personnel allegedly killed at least two refugees fleeing arrest.  The report will be handed over to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra “as soon as possible”, the Phuket Gazette was told. “Our investigation concerning the allegation of the Royal Thai Navy killing at least two Rohingya will be concluded soon. We’re endeavoring to finish it by the middle of September,” Dr Nirun Phitakwatchara of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) confirmed to the Gazette. Five months ago, PM Yingluck vowed in front of the international press