The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar (file photo) By PressTV  March 07, 2014   Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Thailand’s authorities to look into its navy’s alleged role in the trafficking of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar instead of charging journalists for reporting on the subject. The Phuketwan online newspaper published a story last July, citing a report by the Reuters news agency, which said some navy officials “work systematically with smugglers” of Rohingya refugees for profit. The Thai navy filed a case against Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian of the newspaper, who are told to report to the Phuket provincial public prosecution office on March 10 when they might be formally charged for criminal defamation and violation of Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act. The rights group said the navy “should cease its efforts to silence the journalists and instead permit civilian authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into alleged trafficking

Burma President Thein Sein delivers a speech in Naypyidaw in April 2011. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) By Lawi Weng The Irrawaddy March 7, 2014 RANGOON — Burma President Thein Sein has ordered a new commission and the country’s highest court to draft a proposed so-called “protection of race and religion” law, which could include a controversial measure to restrict interfaith marriage, according to lawmakers. A petition signed by about 1.3 million people has called for the president to pass into law a version of a bill drafted by lawyers on behalf of leading monks in the nationalist 969 movement. If enacted without amendment, the bill—which is thought to be targeted at Muslims in Burma—would require Buddhist women to get permission from their parents and local government officials before marrying a man from another faith. It also includes restrictions on converting to another religion, a limit to the number of children people can have, and measures to stop polygamy—which is alread

Kevin McKiernan Pictured is an overcrowded camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near Sittwe, Myanmar. Rohingyas are not permitted to travel in Myanmar or to marry or have more than two children without government permission. By  Kevin McKiernan Santa Barbara Independent  March 6, 2014 Mobs Attack Rakhine Muslim Minority in Potential Ethnic-Cleansing Effort Last month, some weeks after I visited Myanmar, state security forces and Buddhist vigilantes massacred at least 48 ethnic Rohingya Muslims, mostly women and children, according to human rights reports. Witnesses said the mass killings took place in the Rakhine state in western Myanmar ​— ​the country also known as Burma ​— ​in one of the many areas that are largely off-limits to journalists and humanitarian workers. Rakhine is the troubled place where in 2012 Buddhist mobs killed more than 200 Muslims and burned thousands of homes. Despite government controls, journalists managed to report that the mobs, a