Bodies of Rohingya children ‘shot dead by Burmese police’ found washed up on river bank

By Jeff Farrell

The Independent

September 16, 2017

An apparently dead baby is shown laid out on sand after being pulled from a river over which some 15,000 members of the minority cross every day to flee Burma

Bodies of Rohingya Muslim children have washed up on a river after reportedly being shot dead by police in Burma, according to a video that has emerged of the scene.

Crowds stand around the apparently lifeless bodies of what looks like a young boy and an infant both laid out on the sand on the shore of the Naf River, which forms a natural border with neighbouring Bangladesh.

A young boy in shorts then appears in the frame carrying the small body of a baby and gently places it next to the boy. None of the three children are seen moving and appear to be dead.

Relatives of Rohingya Muslims who live overseas and saw the video told how their relatives are being “slaughtered” by the military and the police when they try to flee Burma.

Almost 400,000 Rohingya have fled over the Naf crossing over the past three weeks amid claims they are being burnt out of their villages in what was called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Some 100 members of the minority have reportedly drowned while trying to make the treacherous journey to escape deadly persecution in Burma while packed into boats and clutching their few possessions.

Rohingya Muslims who have already sought refuge overseas in the past spoke out after seeing the video.

Community leader Anwar Sha, who lives in Australia, said he was aware that tens of thousands are still trying to flee.

He told the ABC news channel, which broadcast the video, that there were about 30,000 people trapped in the hills – far from the relative safety of Bangladesh.

"They have no food, they have no shelter. They are just dying there," he said.

"As soon as they try to go out of there, group by group, the military and the police are attacking them and slaughtering them."

He added: "I hear one of [my] sisters has already crossed to Bangladesh, but two other sisters — I have not heard about them.

"There is no contact with them and I don't know where they are."

Some 1,000 Rohingya have been reportedly killed by the military and police in Burma over the past three weeks.

Burma’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under fire for failing to speak out against the outbreak of violence against the Rohingya which has been condemned by the United Nations.

Its human rights official Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein hit out at the “brutal security operation” against the persecuted people and called it “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”