The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Myanmar Times On July 15, 2013 One year ago this week – President U Thein Sein stood next to David Cameron in London and told reporters, “By the end of the year there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.” A member of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) looks through prisoner records on July 10. (Yu Yu/The Myanmar Times)A member of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) looks through prisoner records on July 10. (Yu Yu/The Myanmar Times) He touted his newly formed Remaining Political Prisoner Scrutiny Committee as the mechanism to achieve this aim. The committee, he said, would review the cases of all “prisoners of conscience” and make recommendations for their release. One year later, dozens of democracy activists sit in jail for non-violent political offences, while hundreds of others have been arrested on spurious criminal charges linked to political activities. Since January, there have been few prisoners

By KPN News July 14, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State : Three villagers had been killed by a gang of robbers in Maungdaw south recently, said a close relative of one of the victims. The victims were identified as— the village Administration officer Zakoria (35), son of Manzur, his wife and Moulvi Sayed Azim (25), son of Abdu Zabber. They all hailed from Thinnbaw Kway( Kuloon) villag e of Maungdaw south. The gang of robbers are identified as— Abdul Hakim, Nazir Ahmed, Boshir Ahmed and Monir Ahmed. They are all brothers from Thawin Chaung (Basara) village of Maungdaw Township, and fled from their home land three years ago because of harassment by local village chairman and took shelter in Bangladesh, said a villager from inside Arakan preferring not to be named. They occasionally went to Maungdaw south and killed some of their opponents and looted their properties and came back to Bangladesh and living at Teknaf in hiding position, Kalu from Shapuri Dip of Bangladesh.