Myanmar imposes death penalty on Rohingya Muslims
A court in western Myanmar has sentenced to death a man arrested for his part in an attack on a border guard post that triggered a crackdown by security forces on the country's Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority.
The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that the Sittwe District Court sentenced a man named Uruma for murder for the Oct. 9 attack on an outpost on Rakhine state's border with Bangladesh that killed one officer.
Attacks on two other outposts that same night killed eight other guards and resulted in the attackers seizing a cache of war weapons. The government responded with counterinsurgency operations in northern Rakhine that human rights groups charge has involved rapes, the burning of homes and the killings of possibly hundreds of civilians. The government denies the allegations, but has instituted an official investigation in the wake of a detailed report from the U.N.'s human rights agency alleging serious abuses by the security forces.
The newspaper story said Uruma — also known as Mammud Nu and Ular — was convicted of murder committed during the commission of another crime and was given an additional sentence of a five-year jail term with hard labor. It said he was one of about 20 people who raided the Kotankauk border outpost, where two other officers were wounded.
A security official in Sittwe, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the convicted man was 23 years old and also known as Mohammad Ullah, and was the first suspect arrested for the border guard attacks.
Myanmar has the death penalty for murder, terrorism and treason, but rarely carries out the punishment. In 2014, then-President Thein Sein commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.
The U.N. human rights office said in a report this month Myanmar's security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burned their villages since October in a campaign that "very likely" amounted to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has denied almost all allegations of human rights abuses in northern Rakhine State, where many Rohingya live, and says a lawful counterinsurgency campaign has been under way.
It is rare in Myanmar for security forces to be held accountable for abuses, or for such allegations to be investigated transparently, rights groups say.
Almost 69,000 Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since the security force sweep was launched in October, according to U.N. estimates. More than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims may have been killed in the crackdown, two senior U.N. officials dealing with refugees fleeing the violence said last week. A Myanmar presidential spokesman said the latest reports from military commanders were that fewer than 100 people had been killed in the counterinsurgency operation.
About 1.1 million Rohingya live in apartheid-like conditions in northwestern Myanmar. The violence has renewed international criticism that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has done too little to help members of the Muslim minority.
The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that the Sittwe District Court sentenced a man named Uruma for murder for the Oct. 9 attack on an outpost on Rakhine state's border with Bangladesh that killed one officer.
Attacks on two other outposts that same night killed eight other guards and resulted in the attackers seizing a cache of war weapons. The government responded with counterinsurgency operations in northern Rakhine that human rights groups charge has involved rapes, the burning of homes and the killings of possibly hundreds of civilians. The government denies the allegations, but has instituted an official investigation in the wake of a detailed report from the U.N.'s human rights agency alleging serious abuses by the security forces.
The newspaper story said Uruma — also known as Mammud Nu and Ular — was convicted of murder committed during the commission of another crime and was given an additional sentence of a five-year jail term with hard labor. It said he was one of about 20 people who raided the Kotankauk border outpost, where two other officers were wounded.
A security official in Sittwe, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the convicted man was 23 years old and also known as Mohammad Ullah, and was the first suspect arrested for the border guard attacks.
Myanmar has the death penalty for murder, terrorism and treason, but rarely carries out the punishment. In 2014, then-President Thein Sein commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.
The U.N. human rights office said in a report this month Myanmar's security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burned their villages since October in a campaign that "very likely" amounted to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has denied almost all allegations of human rights abuses in northern Rakhine State, where many Rohingya live, and says a lawful counterinsurgency campaign has been under way.
It is rare in Myanmar for security forces to be held accountable for abuses, or for such allegations to be investigated transparently, rights groups say.
Almost 69,000 Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since the security force sweep was launched in October, according to U.N. estimates. More than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims may have been killed in the crackdown, two senior U.N. officials dealing with refugees fleeing the violence said last week. A Myanmar presidential spokesman said the latest reports from military commanders were that fewer than 100 people had been killed in the counterinsurgency operation.
About 1.1 million Rohingya live in apartheid-like conditions in northwestern Myanmar. The violence has renewed international criticism that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has done too little to help members of the Muslim minority.
Last Update: February 14, 2017 21:52