The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Phyo Wai Aung has been sentenced to death for alleged involvement in the Rangoon water festival bombing. (Photo: AHRC) Phyo Wai Aung, the man accused of carrying out a deadly bombing during the Burmese water festival in 2010, has died just months after his release from prison from an illness that went untreated while he was still in custody. Family members said he died at his home in Rangoon’s Kyauk Myaung Township at around 3 am on Friday. The 33-year-old engineer was sentenced to death in May of last year for his alleged role in a series of bombings that killed at least 10 people and injured around 100 others during festivities to mark Thingyan, the Burmese new year, in April 2010. He was subsequently released under a presidential pardon on Aug. 3, 2012.

Chittagong, Bangladesh:  The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) today called on Thai authorities to give United Nations refugee agencies unhindered access to Rohingya boat migrants, so that they can ascertain whether or not they are asylum seekers and if they are eligible for refugee status,” according to a AIPMC statement. Rohingya boat people near Bon Island in Phuket province “Thai authorities should suspend plans to deport at least 73 Rohingya migrants back to Burma.” “Thailand has a history of mistreatment of Rohingya refugees, and their push-back, or ‘help on’

Maungdaw, Arakan State:   The Maungdaw authority passed an order today to hold the border pass of Rohingya who are living in Ward number 3 and 5, according to village administration office member. Maungdaw Exit and entry point No.1 “The Rohingya – living in Ward number 3 and 5 – who denied to take digital fingerprints and photographs for registration  process with Bengali race.” The Burma border security force (Nasaka) entered today ward number 3 to collect so-called family population list with computerized digital fingerprints and photographs as Bengali which Rohingya community denied to register  and no one went to register with them, said a politician.

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Three young cowboys were arrested by army on December 30, while grazing cows on paddy field – After harvesting – nearby their village of Maungdaw south, Arakan State, Burma, according to a close relative of the victims. “The arrested cowboys are identified as—Rashidullah (17), son of Mohamed Nazir, Rafique (16), son of Imam Hussain, hailed from Zaw Metet village and Jubair (20), son of Ahmed Sharif, hailed from Thayaigontan village.”

Teknaf, Bangladesh: Pneumonia, fever, cough, stomach’s pain and diarrhea have recently spread among the refugee children in Bangladesh-Burma border, said a local doctor from Teknaf. The overview of Kutupalong unregistered camp on Bangladesh-Burma border “Many unregistered Rohingya refugee children of Leda (Tal) and Kutuplong makeshift camp have been suffering from various diseases since the end of December 2012.” According to refugees, the effected children are being given basic treatment through INGOs- Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Muslim Aids and etc.

This picture taken on Dec 30, 2012, shows Myanmar Rohingya refugees under the custody of Malaysian security officials on Langkawi island, northern Kedah state. Officials say 73 refugees from Myanmar's Rohingya minority found adrift off a Thai resort island will be repatriated to their homeland. --PHOTO: AFP Source  Mizzima News Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Thai government to immediately halt its plan to deport 73 ethnic Rohingyas back to Burma.  In a statement on Thursday, the New York-based rights group urged the Thai authorities to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) unhindered access to the boatpeople and other migrants from Burma’s restive Rakhine State to determine whether they are seeking asylum and whether they qualify for refugee status.

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: More than 3,923 Rohingya were arrested and pushed back to Burma by the concerned authorities of Bangladesh in 2012, said a local source from border. “They were arrested from the Bangladesh-Burma border by the concerned authorities of Bangladesh while they were taking shelter after entering the Bangladesh.”