Myanmar investigators question Rohingya in Bangladesh camps
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| In this Dec. 2, 2016 file photo, Mohsena Begum, a Rohingya who escaped to Bangladesh from Myanmar, holds her child and sits at the entrance of a room of an unregistered refugee camp in Teknaf, near Cox’s Bazar, a southern coastal district about, 296 kilometers (183 miles) south of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A Bangladesh official says an investigating team formed by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has visited two makeshift camps in southern Bangladesh and questioned some of the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar, alleging mistreatment by soldiers and majority Buddhists. Bangladesh district administrator Imrul Kayes said Monday the Rohingya refused to show their faces to the 10 visiting investigators, fearing reprisals when they return home. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) |
By Julhas Alam
March 20, 2017
Dhaka, Bangladesh -- An investigating team formed by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi visited two makeshift camps in southern Bangladesh on Monday and questioned some of the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar, alleging mistreatment by soldiers and majority Buddhists.
The Rohingya refused to show their faces to the 10 visiting investigators, fearing reprisals when they return home, said magistrate Imrul Kayes, who accompanied the team.
He said the men and women talked from behind a curtain and gave accounts of horrors they faced, including the raping of women, killing of children and burning of villages.
About 35 people described their experiences to the investigators in Cox's Bazar district, he said. The investigators did not speak to the media.
About 90,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed the border from Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh.
Myanmar's army launched counterinsurgency operations in Rohingya areas in northern Rakhine state last October after the killing of nine border guards. U.N. human rights investigators and independent rights organizations charge that soldiers and police killed and raped civilians and burned down more than 1,000 homes during their operations.
Myanmar's government has rejected the allegations, but promised to investigate.
