Why is reason for late reporting at 10 month ?
"TRURH WILL UTIMATELY PREVAIL WHERE THERE IS PAINS TO BRING IT TO LIGHT"
Amnesty report confirms massacre of Hindus by Rohingya terrorists in Myanmar
Myanmar: New evidence reveals Rohingya armed group massacred scores in Rakhine State
A Rohingya armed group brandishing guns and swords is
responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up
to 99 Hindu women, men, and children as well as additional unlawful
killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017, Amnesty
International revealed today after carrying out a detailed investigation
inside Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Based on dozens of interviews conducted there and across the border in Bangladesh, as well as photographic evidence analyzed by forensic pathologists, the organization revealed how Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) fighters sowed fear among Hindus and other ethnic communities with these brutal attacks.
“Our latest investigation on the ground sheds much-needed light on the largely under-reported human rights abuses by ARSA during northern Rakhine State’s unspeakably dark recent history,” said Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International.
Based on dozens of interviews conducted there and across the border in Bangladesh, as well as photographic evidence analyzed by forensic pathologists, the organization revealed how Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) fighters sowed fear among Hindus and other ethnic communities with these brutal attacks.
“Our latest investigation on the ground sheds much-needed light on the largely under-reported human rights abuses by ARSA during northern Rakhine State’s unspeakably dark recent history,” said Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International.
Our latest investigation on the ground sheds much-needed light on the largely under-reported human rights abuses by ARSA during northern Rakhine State’s unspeakably dark recent history.
“It’s hard to ignore the sheer brutality of ARSA’s actions, which
have left an indelible impression on the survivors we’ve spoken to.
Accountability for these atrocities is every bit as crucial as it is for
the crimes against humanity carried out by Myanmar’s security forces in
northern Rakhine State.”
Massacre in Kha Maung Seik
At around 8am on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked the Hindu community in
the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, in a cluster of villages known
as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. At the time of the
attack, the Hindu villagers lived in close proximity to Rohingya
villagers, who are predominantly Muslim. Rakhine villagers, who are
predominantly Buddhist, also lived in the same area.
Armed men dressed in black and local Rohingya villagers in plain
clothes rounded up dozens of Hindu women, men and children. They robbed,
bound, and blindfolded them before marching them to the outskirts of
the village, where they separated the men from the women and young
children. A few hours later, the ARSA fighters killed 53 of the Hindus,
execution-style, starting with the men.
Eight Hindu women and eight of their children were abducted and spared, after ARSA fighters forced the women to agree to “convert” to Islam. The survivors were forced to flee with the fighters to Bangladesh several days later, before being repatriated to Myanmar in October 2017 with the support of the Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities.
Eight Hindu women and eight of their children were abducted and spared, after ARSA fighters forced the women to agree to “convert” to Islam. The survivors were forced to flee with the fighters to Bangladesh several days later, before being repatriated to Myanmar in October 2017 with the support of the Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities.
[The men] held knives and long iron rods. They tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us. I asked what they were doing. One of them replied, ‘You and Rakhine are the same, you have a different religion, you can’t live here. He spoke the [Rohingya] language. They asked what belongings we had, then they beat us. Eventually I gave them my gold and money.
Bina Bala, a 22-year-old woman who survived the massacre, told Amnesty International:
“[The men] held knives and long iron rods. They tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us. I asked what they were doing. One of them replied, ‘You and Rakhine are the same, you have a different religion, you can’t live here. He spoke the [Rohingya] language. They asked what belongings we had, then they beat us. Eventually I gave them my gold and money.”
“[The men] held knives and long iron rods. They tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us. I asked what they were doing. One of them replied, ‘You and Rakhine are the same, you have a different religion, you can’t live here. He spoke the [Rohingya] language. They asked what belongings we had, then they beat us. Eventually I gave them my gold and money.”
All eight survivors interviewed by Amnesty International said they either saw Hindu relatives being killed or heard their screams. Raj Kumari, 18, said: “They slaughtered the men. We were told not to look at them … They had knives. They also had some spades and iron rods. … We hid ourselves in the shrubs there and were able to see a little … My uncle, my father, my brother – they were all slaughtered.”
Formila, around 20, told Amnesty International that she did not see when the Hindu men were killed, but that the fighters “came back with blood on their swords, and blood on their hands” and told the women the men had been killed. Later, as Formila and the other seven abducted women were being marched away, she turned back and saw ARSA fighters kill the other women and children. “I saw men holding the heads and hair [of the women] and others were holding knives. And then they cut their throats,” she said.
According to a detailed list of the dead, given to Amnesty International, the victims from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik include 20 men, 10 women, and 23 children, 14 of whom were under the age of eight. This is consistent with multiple testimonies the organization gathered in both Bangladesh and Myanmar, from survivors and witnesses as well as Hindu community leaders.
The same day, all of the 46 Hindu men, women, and children in the
neighbouring village of Ye Bauk Kyar disappeared. Members of the Hindu
community in northern Rakhine State presume the community was killed by
the same ARSA fighters. Combined with those from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik,
the total death toll is believed to be 99.
The bodies of 45 people from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik were unearthed in four mass graves in late September 2017. The remains of the rest of the victims from that village, as well as all 46 from Ye Bauk Kyar, have not been found to date.
The bodies of 45 people from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik were unearthed in four mass graves in late September 2017. The remains of the rest of the victims from that village, as well as all 46 from Ye Bauk Kyar, have not been found to date.
In this brutal and senseless act, members of ARSA captured scores of Hindu women, men, and children and terrorized them before slaughtering them outside their own villages. The perpetrators of this heinous crime must be held to account.
“In this brutal and senseless act, members of ARSA captured scores of
Hindu women, men, and children and terrorized them before slaughtering
them outside their own villages. The perpetrators of this heinous crime
must be held to account,” said Tirana Hassan.
ARSA’s other unlawful killings of Hindus
Amnesty International has also documented ARSA’s involvement in other
killings and violent attacks against members of other ethnic and
religious communities.
On 26 August 2017, ARSA members killed six Hindus – two women, a man, and three children – and injured another Hindu woman on the outskirts of Maungdaw town, near Myo Thu Gyi village.
Kor Mor La, 25, was one of two women who survived the attack, along with four children. Her husband Na Ra Yan, 30, and five-year-old daughter Shu Nan Daw were both killed. “The people who shot us were dressed in black. … I couldn’t see their faces, only their eyes. … They had long guns and swords,” Kor Mor Lar said. “My husband was shot next to me. I was shot [in the chest]. After that I was barely conscious.”
The killings came just days after ARSA fighters unleashed a series of attacks on around 30 Myanmar security posts on 25 August 2017, prompting an unlawful and grossly disproportionate campaign of violence by Myanmar’s security forces. Amnesty International and others have documented in detail how this campaign was marked by killings, rape and other sexual violence, torture, village burning, forced starvation tactics, and other violations which constitute crimes against humanity under international law. More than 693,000 Rohingya people were forced to flee to Bangladesh, where they still remain.
Tens of thousands of people from other ethnic and religious communities were also displaced within Rakhine State during the violence. Although most have returned to their homes, some continue to live in temporary shelters, either because their homes were destroyed or because they fear further ARSA attacks if they return to their villages.
On 26 August 2017, ARSA members killed six Hindus – two women, a man, and three children – and injured another Hindu woman on the outskirts of Maungdaw town, near Myo Thu Gyi village.
Kor Mor La, 25, was one of two women who survived the attack, along with four children. Her husband Na Ra Yan, 30, and five-year-old daughter Shu Nan Daw were both killed. “The people who shot us were dressed in black. … I couldn’t see their faces, only their eyes. … They had long guns and swords,” Kor Mor Lar said. “My husband was shot next to me. I was shot [in the chest]. After that I was barely conscious.”
The killings came just days after ARSA fighters unleashed a series of attacks on around 30 Myanmar security posts on 25 August 2017, prompting an unlawful and grossly disproportionate campaign of violence by Myanmar’s security forces. Amnesty International and others have documented in detail how this campaign was marked by killings, rape and other sexual violence, torture, village burning, forced starvation tactics, and other violations which constitute crimes against humanity under international law. More than 693,000 Rohingya people were forced to flee to Bangladesh, where they still remain.
Tens of thousands of people from other ethnic and religious communities were also displaced within Rakhine State during the violence. Although most have returned to their homes, some continue to live in temporary shelters, either because their homes were destroyed or because they fear further ARSA attacks if they return to their villages.
Independent investigations needed
The Myanmar government cannot criticize the international community as being one-sided while at the same time denying access to northern Rakhine State. The full extent of ARSA’s abuses and the Myanmar military’s violations will not be known until independent human rights investigators, including the UN Fact-Finding mission, are given full and unfettered access to Rakhine State.
“ARSA’s appalling attacks were followed by the Myanmar military’s
ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya population as a whole.
Both must be condemned – human rights violations or abuses by one side
never justify abuses or violations by the other,” said Tirana Hassan.
“All the survivors and victims’ families have the right to justice, truth, and reparation for the immense harm they have suffered.”
At a UN Security Council meeting last week, Myanmar’s permanent representative criticized some in the UN for only listening to “one side” of the story and failing to acknowledge abuses committed by ARSA.
“The Myanmar government cannot criticize the international community as being one-sided while at the same time denying access to northern Rakhine State. The full extent of ARSA’s abuses and the Myanmar military’s violations will not be known until independent human rights investigators, including the UN Fact-Finding mission, are given full and unfettered access to Rakhine State,” said Tirana Hassan.
“All the survivors and victims’ families have the right to justice, truth, and reparation for the immense harm they have suffered.”
At a UN Security Council meeting last week, Myanmar’s permanent representative criticized some in the UN for only listening to “one side” of the story and failing to acknowledge abuses committed by ARSA.
“The Myanmar government cannot criticize the international community as being one-sided while at the same time denying access to northern Rakhine State. The full extent of ARSA’s abuses and the Myanmar military’s violations will not be known until independent human rights investigators, including the UN Fact-Finding mission, are given full and unfettered access to Rakhine State,” said Tirana Hassan.
Briefing: Attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Hindus in northern Rakhine State
Early in the morning of 25 August 2017, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation
Army (ARSA), a Rohingya armed group, attacked around 30 security force
outposts in northern Rakhine State. The attacks, which were carefully
planned and coordinated, came just hours after the release of the final
report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, led by former UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which had been tasked with identifying
solutions for peace and development in one of Myanmar’s most
underdeveloped and volatile regions.[1]
In the days that followed, ARSA fighters, along with some mobilized
Rohingya villagers, engaged in scores of clashes with security forces.[2]
The Myanmar security forces, and in particular the military,
responded to the attacks and subsequent clashes with an unlawful and
grossly disproportionate campaign of violence marked by killings, rape
and other sexual violence, torture,[3]
village burning, forced starvation tactics, and other human rights
violations and crimes under international law, all of which has been
well documented by Amnesty International and others.[4]
The military’s attacks, which targeted the entire Rohingya population
living in northern Rakhine State, have been both widespread and
systematic, constituting crimes against humanity under international
law. To date, some 693,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to
Bangladesh.[5]
Also known as Harakah al-Yaqin, or “the faith movement”,
ARSA first came to prominence in October 2016 after launching similar,
albeit smaller-scale, attacks on border police posts in northern Rakhine
State, prompting a disproportionate military response also amounting to
crimes against humanity.[6]
The group was established in the aftermath of violence between Buddhist
and Muslim communities in Rakhine State in 2012 and is comprised of a
core group of trained fighters, estimated as in the hundreds, with
access to small firearms and some home-made explosives. On 25 August,
ARSA mobilized a large number of Rohingya villagers – likely around
several thousand. The villagers were overwhelmingly armed with bladed
weapons or sticks.[7]
While Amnesty International has confirmed that some Rohingya villagers
participated in ARSA attacks, the overwhelming majority of Rohingya did
not. Even in the specific villages where attacks occurred, there is no
question that most villagers did not take part in ARSA attacks.
Amnesty International has documented serious human rights abuses
committed by ARSA during and after the attacks in late August 2017. This
briefing focuses on serious crimes – including unlawful killings and
abductions – carried out by ARSA fighters against the Hindu community
living in northern Rakhine State. At the time of the unlawful killings,
none of the victims were armed or endangering the lives of ARSA fighters
or other Rohingya. In the refugee camps in Bangladesh in September
2017, Amnesty International conducted 12 interviews with members of the
Hindu community who left Myanmar during the violence. In April 2018,
Amnesty International conducted research in Sittwe, Myanmar on ARSA
abuses and attacks, interviewing 10 additional people from the Hindu
community and 33 people from ethnic Rakhine, Khami, Mro, and Thet
communities, all of whom were from northern Rakhine State. Six more
people from an area where Hindu killings occurred were interviewed by
phone from outside the region in May 2018.
The full extent of human rights abuses by ARSA is difficult to
determine, in large part because the Myanmar authorities continue to
restrict access to northern Rakhine State. Access restrictions have made
it extremely difficult for members of all ethnic minorities and
religious communities still living in the region to speak about their
experiences and to get the support and assistance they require. In
addition, those who speak about ARSA abuses face threats and
intimidation from the group. The killing of Rohingya suspected of acting
as government informers throughout 2017, and reports of ARSA-related
killings in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, have only heightened such
fears.[8]
MASSACRE IN KHA MAUNG SEIK VILLAGE TRACT
At around 8 a.m. on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked the Hindu community
in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, located in Kha Maung Seik
village tract in northern Maungdaw Township. ARSA fighters, some of whom
were dressed in black and others dressed in ordinary clothing, rounded
up all 69 Hindu men, women, and children present in the village at the
time. A few hours later, ARSA fighters killed, execution-style, the vast
majority of them, and abducted the rest.
The same day, the Hindu community present in the neighbouring village
of Ye Bauk Kyar – 46 men, women, and children – disappeared. To date,
their fate and whereabouts remains unknown. Relatives and other members
of the Hindu community in northern Rakhine State told Amnesty
International that they presume the entire group was killed by the same
perpetrators.[9]
Kha Maung Seik is a mixed-ethnicity and religion village tract, home
to Hindu, Rohingya, and ethnic Rakhine villagers, all of whom lived in
close proximity. Amnesty International conducted in-depth interviews in a
Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh in September 2017, and in the Rakhine
State capital of Sittwe, Myanmar in April 2018, and by telephone in May
2018 with eight survivors, five family members of victims, three men who
were part of the group that uncovered the mass graves, and several
witnesses to related events in and around Kha Maung Seik, including ARSA
attacks and the movements of Myanmar security forces.[10]
“[It was morning], I was praying at the time,” recalled 22-year-old Bina Bala,[11] who was one of eight women abducted and taken to Bangladesh by ARSA fighters. “They came to our house. Some were wearing black and others were wearing normal clothes … I recognized them [from the village].”[12]
Bina Bala said the men confiscated the family’s mobile phones before
ordering them out in to the courtyard, where other Hindu villagers were
also being gathered. She told Amnesty International, “[The men] held
knives and long iron rods. They tied our hands behind our backs and
blindfolded us. I asked what they were doing. One of them replied, ‘You
and [ethnic] Rakhine are the same, you have a different religion, you
can’t live here’. He spoke the [Rohingya] dialect. They asked what belongings we had, then they beat us. Eventually I gave them my gold and money.”[13]
Rika Dhar, 24, was also at home with her family at the time of the attack. “We didn’t have a chance to run,” she told Amnesty International. “Muslim people took our gold. … I was blindfolded, and they tied my hands behind my back.”[14]
Like other women Amnesty International interviewed, Rika Dhar said she
knew some of the attackers, who were members of the Rohingya community
living in Kha Maung Seik village tract.
After binding, robbing, and blindfolding the Hindu villagers, ARSA
fighters marched them to a creek area on the outskirts of the village.
There, the fighters sat the villagers down and burned their ID cards,
which they had confiscated earlier. They then divided the men from the
women and children, and brought the women into the forest.[15]
The fighters killed, execution-style, 53 of the Hindus from Ah Nauk
Kha Maung Seik, according to a list of the dead seen by Amnesty
International that is consistent with testimony from survivors, other
Kha Maung Seik residents, and Hindu community leaders. The victims
include 20 men, 10 women, and 23 children, 14 of who were under the age
of 8.[16]
Only 16 people – eight women and eight of their children – survived,
their lives spared on the condition that the women agreed to “convert”
from Hinduism to Islam and then marry people selected by ARSA fighters.[17]
According to all eight survivors, the ARSA fighters took the men away
and killed them. Formila, around 20, told Amnesty International that “the
Muslim men came back with blood on their swords, and blood on their
hands. They told us that they had killed our husbands and the village
headman.”[18] Raj Kumari, 18, said: “They
slaughtered the men. We were told not to look at them … They had
knives. They also had some spades and iron rods. … We hid ourselves in
the shrubs there and were able to see a little. … My uncle, my father, my brother – they were all slaughtered. … After slaughtering the men, the women were also slaughtered.”[19]
Shortly after, a group of about 10 to 15 fighters took the eight
survivors and their children and removed them from the larger group. The
fighters then began to kill the other women and children. Two of the
survivors – Aur Nika, around 18; and Formila – told Amnesty
International that, as the fighters were leading them away, they looked
back and saw women being killed.[20] Formila recalled, “I
saw some Muslim men kill Hindu women. Then I cried. … I saw men holding
the heads and hair [of the women] and others were holding knives. And
then they cut their throats,” she said.[21]
Bina Bala told Amnesty International that although she did not see the
killings, she heard women and children screaming shortly after being
taken away.[22]
The 16 survivors were held captive inside a house in the area for two
nights, before being forced to flee alongside their captors to the
Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh.[23] According to five of the women, the group fled the same day helicopters were seen flying over the village.[24]
The presence of helicopters in the area at the time was separately
corroborated by San Nyunt, the Village Administrator from neighbouring
Min Kha Maung; and by Shawlyee Shawltee, a 20-year-old woman who lived
in Kha Maung Seik village tract but who had left her village on 24
August and was taking shelter in BGP post in Ah Shey Kha Maung Seik
village at the time of the massacre.[25]
Shortly after arriving in Bangladesh on 28 August, the eight Hindu
women were forced to make a false statement on video, claiming that the
massacre had been carried out by ethnic Rakhine villagers.[26] “[One of the kidnappers] told us that if anyone asks we should say that the Rakhine and the military attacked us,” recalled Bina Bala. “He said if people come to interview you, you must say this or you will be killed.” [27]
Soon after the video was posted on Facebook, members of the Hindu
community in northern Rakhine State alerted friends in Bangladesh who
proceeded to locate the survivors. The survivors were then relocated to a
camp designated for Hindu refugees, where they were eventually
protected by Bangladeshi security forces.[28]
In early October, all sixteen survivors were repatriated to Myanmar
with the support of the Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities.[29]
On 23 September, members of the Hindu community in northern Rakhine
State and members of the Myanmar security forces travelled to the site
of the massacre and, over the course of two days, unearthed four mass
graves, which in total contained the remains of 45 people.[30]
On 27 September, the government temporarily lifted its ban on access to
the area and brought local and international journalists to visit the
site of the mass graves.[31]
According to the list that identified by name, biographical data, and
village the 99 Hindus reportedly killed, given to Amnesty International
by Hindu community leaders, all of the 45 excavated bodies have been
identified as people from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik or people who were
visiting Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik at the time of the attack.[32]
The bodies of the other eight people killed from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik
have not been found; according to the list of those killed, seven of
those eight were young children – including four who were under three
months old.[33]
The fate and whereabouts of villagers from Ye Bauk Kyar remain unknown,
although they are presumed to have been killed by the same
perpetrators.
In a press statement posted on its Twitter account and in responses
to media inquiries, ARSA has denied any involvement in the incident.[34]
The Myanmar authorities’ restrictions on access mean no independent
journalist or human rights investigator has been granted unfettered
access to Kha Maung Seik and the surrounding areas.
Several of the survivors, including at least three of the eight
interviewed by Amnesty International, have been interviewed multiple
times by different media organizations. The vast majority of these
interviews took place either in the Bangladesh refugee camps during the
days after the women were rescued, or in Myanmar in the weeks after the
mass graves were uncovered. Over the course of these interviews, the
women provided accounts which were at times inconsistent with the
testimony of other survivors and even contradicted their own previous
statements.
As noted, the survivors’ initial declaration on video in Bangladesh
placed the blame for the killings on ethnic Rakhine villagers,[35] as they did several days later in interviews with Reuters.[36]
In subsequent interviews in Bangladesh with media and with Amnesty
International, the survivors were at times equivocal about the identity
of the perpetrators, and other times said it was ARSA, “Rohingya,” or
“Muslims”; throughout this period, they typically described attackers as
wearing black.[37] On their return to Myanmar, survivors unambiguously asserted that Rohingya, believed to be ARSA fighters, were responsible.[38]
The survivors’ evolving stories made it difficult for journalists and
human rights investigators – including Amnesty International – to come
to a conclusion about the facts.
After careful review of evidence obtained in Bangladesh and Rakhine
State, Amnesty International has concluded that ARSA fighters are
responsible for the massacre.
First, the inconsistencies of the Hindu survivors’ testimonies are
largely explained by the pressures and threats to personal safety that
they faced while in Bangladesh, as described above by Bina Bala. Such
pressure continued even while they lived in a separate camp area
protected by the Bangladeshi security forces.
Second, the physical descriptions that the Hindu survivors provided
of the ARSA attackers in Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik – descriptions which
have largely remained consistent over time – are also consistent with
descriptions of ARSA fighters around the time of the massacre from
witnesses in other parts of Kha Maung Seik village tract and from
witnesses in other villages across northern Rakhine State.
Ten Hindu in Ta Man Thar, Thit Tone Nar Gwa Son, and Myo Thu Gyi
villages; three ethnic Mro residents of Khu Daing village, which was
attacked and burned by ARSA on 28 August 2017; and two ethnic Rakhine
residents of Koe Tan Kauk village tract all separately described to
Amnesty International seeing a core group of fighters in black, often
with their faces covered except for their eyes.[39]
Many from those villages, as well as an ethnic Rakhine villager from
Auk Pyue Ma, also described seeing among the attackers some Rohingya men
who they recognized as neighbours or residents from nearby villages,
similar to in Kha Maung Seik.[40]
Witness descriptions of ARSA fighters covering their faces are likewise
consistent with known photographs and videos of ARSA fighters,
including those posted by ARSA itself in the weeks immediately before
and after the 25 August attacks.[41]
Third, all of the survivors and many of the witnesses stated that
they could hear the fighters speaking in the Rohingya dialect, which is
very similar to the dialect spoken by the Hindu population in northern
Rakhine State.[42]
Fourth, Amnesty International sent a forensic anthropological expert
31 photographs taken in Kha Maung Seik on 23 and 24 September 2017 by a
person who was present when bodies were discovered in mass graves.[43]
In a peer-reviewed analysis, the forensic expert concluded, after
categorizing the decomposition of the bodies and estimating the soil
temperature and water level, that “the appearance of the human
remains exhumed from the grave at Kha Maung Seik on 24 September 2017 is
entirely consistent with what would be expected had those individuals
been killed and buried at that site on 25 August 2017.”[44]
The expert also identified the “presence of blindfolds on
multiple victims (and the possible presence of sharp and blunt or
projectile trauma), [which] is indicative of homicide in the form of
extrajudicial and summary executions.”[45] When enlarging one of the images, the expert determined that a female victim “exhibits an injury to the anterior neck that is consistent with sharp force trauma, e.g. a knife slash to the throat,”
though could not conclude from the photograph alone whether the trauma
was the cause of death or had occurred during the excavation of the
bodies.[46]
The presence of blindfolds, as well as a wound suggestive of a throat
being slit, is consistent with the testimonies of the surviving Hindu
women.[47]
Fifth, testimonies from a Hindu villager and a Rakhine Village
Administrator in Kha Maung Seik village tract confirms that the Myanmar
military sent reinforcements to the area after the massacre was carried
out, and the that at least one helicopter arrived in the area several
days later, on 27 August.[48]
That testimony gives further credence to the likelihood that the
Myanmar security forces were not in control of Kha Maung Seik on the day
the massacre occurred and therefore could not have carried it out.
Sixth, survivors identified specific individual perpetrators, one of
whom Amnesty International was able to confirm was a Rohingya resident
of Kha Maung Seik village tract.
Together, the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that ARSA was
responsible for the massacre, and that it has actively tried to cover up
the crimes by forcing the surviving women to appear on camera
implicating other perpetrators and through more general intimidation
aimed at distorting the story.
The attack in Kha Maung Seik shook the Hindu community in Rakhine
State. Many of those whom Amnesty International interviewed in Sittwe
expressed concerns about further violence. “I never imagined this could happen, we had a good relationship [with the Rohingya]. Why did they attack us?” asked Shawlyee Shawltee, from Kha Maung Seik.[49] Like other people displaced during the violence, she is worried about the future and does not want to return to her village. “I lost everything, my house, all our property. My husband is suffering [psychologically] after all his family members died,” she said.[50]
UNLAWFULL KILLING OF SIX HINDUS IN MYO THU GYI
While the massacre in Kha Maung Seik village tract is the most
egregious incident of human rights abuses by ARSA that Amnesty
International has documented, fighters perpetrated other killings and
violent attacks against members of Hindu and Buddhist ethnic groups. On
26 August 2017, ARSA fighters killed six Hindus – two women, a man, and
three children – and injured another Hindu woman, on the outskirts of
Maungdaw town, near Myo Thu Gyi village.
The six victims were part of an extended family of twelve who had
fled from U Daung village tract, in Maungdaw Township, after ARSA
fighters threatened them the day before. After seeking refuge for a
night in the house of the ethnic Rakhine Village Administrator, the
group was driven to the outskirts of Maungdaw town. Shortly after they
arrived, a gunfight broke out between ARSA and the Myanmar military. The
Hindu family took cover in a nearby building under construction.
According to the only two adult survivors, men dressed in black and
carrying guns entered the building and then proceed to shoot at the
group at close range.[51]
Kor Mor La, 25, was one of the two women who survived the attack,
along with four children. Her husband Na Ra Yan, 30, and 5-year-old
daughter, Shu Nan Daw, were both killed. “The people who shot us were dressed in black. … I couldn’t see their faces, only their eyes. … They had long guns and swords,” Kor Mor Lar said. “My husband was shot next to me. I was shot [in the chest]. After that I was barely conscious.”[52]
Kor Mor La showed Amnesty International a scar on her left breast that she said was from the gunshot wound. “The bullet wound is still sore,” Kor Mor La said, explaining that she had to visit a doctor for ongoing treatment.[53]
Phaw Naw Balar, 27, was the only other adult to survive the attack. She told Amnesty International, “The
men wearing black came from the direction of Myo Thu Gyi village. They
didn’t say anything, they just started shooting. After they left, my
children were crying, so I took them to the next floor up and we hid
together in an empty water tank.”[54]
She explained that they hid until the ARSA fighters had left the area. “When I came back downstairs, I saw the dead bodies,” she recalled. “Six
of my relatives were dead. Some had been shot in the front, in their
abdomen and chest, [and] others in the back. My sister-in-law [Kor Mor
La] was shot. I tried to bandage her, then we left for the three mile
checkpoint.”[55]
From there, the group travelled to Buthidaung town, and then on to
Sittwe, where Kor Mor La received treatment for her injuries. In
addition to Kor Mor La’s husband and daughter, ARSA fighters killed Chou
Maw Tet, 27; her husband Han Mon Tor, 30; the couple’s 10-year-old son,
Praw Chat; and their 3-year-old daughter, Daw Maw Ne.[56]
Today, the two surviving woman and their four children remain
displaced in Sittwe, where they are living in a Hindu temple. Without
her husband, the breadwinner of the family, Kor Mo La explained that she
is worried how her family will survive. “I have had a very difficult time,” she said. “I have two children, just trying to survive is very hard. We are suffering so much.”[57]
CONCLUSION
The Rohingya in Rakhine State have for decades suffered systematic
discrimination by the Myanmar authorities. Amnesty International has
concluded that the deeply discriminatory way the authorities treated the
Rohingya, even before the atrocities from August 2017 onwards, amounted
to the crime against humanity of apartheid. Following the 25 August
attacks these violations and crimes reached a peak, with unlawful
killings, rapes, and burning of villages on a large scale, leading the
majority of the population to flee the country. Nothing can justify such
violations. But similarly, no atrocities can justify the massacre,
abductions, and other abuses committed by ARSA against the Hindu
community, as documented in this briefing.
Since the outbreak of violence in August, the Myanmar authorities
have refused to grant access to northern Rakhine State to Amnesty
International and other independent investigators, which has made it
incredibly difficult to access those communities affected by ARSA and to
corroborate witness accounts. Despite the restrictions, Amnesty
International has now determined that ARSA fighters are responsible for
the unlawful killing and abduction of members of the Hindu community in
northern Rakhine State. These are serious crimes and abuses of human
rights. They should be investigated by a competent body, and where
sufficient, admissible evidence is found, those responsible should be
held to account before independent civilian courts, in trials which meet
international standards of fairness and which do not impose the death
penalty.
For the full extent of the human rights abuses and crimes committed
in northern Rakhine State to be uncovered, including those committed by
ARSA, the Myanmar authorities must immediately allow independent
investigators, including the UN Fact-Finding Mission, full and
unfettered access throughout the region. Victims, survivors, and their
families have the right to justice, truth, and reparation for the harm
they have suffered. To this end, the authorities must also ensure full
and unfettered humanitarian assistance to communities in need, and
ensure that proper psycho-social support is available to all survivors
of violence in northern Rakhine State.
[1] See International Crisis Group, Statement: Myanmar Tips into New Crisis after Rakhine State Attacks, 27 August 2017; International Crisis Group, Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis Enters a Dangerous New Phase, Report No. 292 / Asia, 7 December 2017.
[2] Amnesty International interviews, Myanmar, April 2018. See also International Crisis Group, Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis Enters a Dangerous New Phase.
[3] Under international law, rape by officials is also, and invariably, a form of torture.
[4] See Amnesty International, “My World Is Finished”: Rohingya Targeted by Crimes Against Humanity in Myanmar (Index: ASA 16/7288/2017), 18 October 2017; Amnesty International, Myanmar forces rob, starve and abduct Rohingya, as ethnic cleansing continues (Index: ASA 16/7835/2018), 7 February 2018; Amnesty International, Remaking Rakhine State (Index: ASA 16/8018/2018), 12 March 2018; Human Rights Watch, “All of My Body Was Pain”: Sexual Violence against Rohingya Women and Girls in Burma, November 2017; Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF), “No One Was Left”: Death and Violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, Myanmar, March 2018; Reuters, “Massacre in Myanmar,” 8 February 2018.
[5] Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), Situation Report: Rohingya Refugee Crisis,
10 May 2018,
https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/20180510_-_iscg_-_sitrep_final.pdf.
[6] See International Crisis Group, Myanmar: A New Muslim Insurgency in Rakhine State, Report No. 283 / Asia, 15 December 2016; International Crisis Group, Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis Enters a Dangerous New Phase; Amnesty International, “We Are at Breaking Point”: Rohingya: Persecuted in Myanmar, Neglected in Bangladesh (Index: ASA 16/5362/2016), 19 December 2016.
[7] Amnesty International interviews, Sittwe and Yangon, Myanmar, April and May 2018. See also International Crisis Group, Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis Enters a Dangerous New Phase.
[8] Amnesty International interviews, Sittwe and Yangon, Myanmar, April and May 2018. See also International Crisis Group, The Long Haul Ahead for Myanmar’s Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Report No. 296 / Asia, 16 May 2018; Kayleigh Long, “Rohingya insurgency takes lethal form in Myanmar”, Asia Times Online, 20 June 2017, http://www.atimes.com/article/rohingya-insurgency-takes-lethal-form-myanmar/.
[9] Amnesty International interviews, Sittwe, Myanmar, April 2018; and telephone interview, 18 May 2018.
[10]
Amnesty International interviewed three of the survivors twice – in
Bangladesh in September 2017 and again in Myanmar in April or May 2018.
[11]
The spelling of Hindu names in this briefing reflects how the
interviewees gave their names to interpreters with whom Amnesty
International worked. This presents challenges, as the original name was
often burmanized and then anglicized in the course of transliteration.
While Amnesty International has tried to record the spelling of names as
accurately as possible, it is likely some spellings deviate from the
original. In reporting by local and international media outlets, there
are often small spelling differences in the names of Hindu individuals
interviewed multiple times, reflecting the same challenge. Amnesty
International has on file more complete biographical data of each
individual interviewed.
[12] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 27 April 2018.
[13] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 27 April 2018.
[14] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 25 April 2018.
[15]
Amnesty International interviews, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh, 28
September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30 April 3018; and telephone
interviews, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 17-21 May 2018.
[16] List of Hindu killed in Kha Maung Seik village tract, on file with Amnesty International.
[17]
Amnesty International interviews with survivors, Hindu refugee camp in
Bangladesh, 14 and 28 September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30
April 2018; and telephone interviews with survivors, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17
May 2018.
[18] Amnesty International telephone interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17 May 2018.
[19] Amnesty International interview, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh, 28 September 2017.
[20] Amnesty International telephone interviews, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17 May 2018.
[21] Amnesty International telephone interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17 May 2018.
[22] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 27 April 2018.
[23]
Amnesty International interviews with survivors, Hindu refugee camp in
Bangladesh, 14 and 28 September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30
April 2018; and telephone interviews with survivors, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17
May 2018.
[24] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018; and telephone interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17 May 2018.
[25] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018; and telephone interview, 14 May 2018.
[26]
Several people posted the video to Facebook, including here:
https://www.facebook.com/noman.alhossain.9/videos/1405458619572008/
(last accessed 18 May 2018). Amnesty International delegates viewed and
had the clip translated into English.
[27] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 27 April 2018.
[28] Amnesty International interviews, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh, September 2018, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, April 2018.
[29]
See Myanmar Information Committee, “Eight Hindu women and eight
children who were abducted by ARSA extremist terrorists to an IDP camp
in Bangladesh were brought back to Myanmar,” 4 October 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/InfomationCommittee/posts/810620129111095.
[30]
Amnesty International interviews with three people who helped discover
the bodies, Sittwe, Myanmar, April 2018; and with Hindu community
leaders, Sittwe, Myanmar, April 2018. See also Agence France-Presse, “17
more bodies found as Myanmar unearths mass Hindu graves,” 25 September
2017.
[31] See Agence France-Presse,
“Hindus recount massacre as mass graves unearthed,” 28 September 2017;
Reuters, “Slaughtered Hindus a testament to brutality of Myanmar's
conflict,” 27 September 2017.
[32] List of Hindu killed in Kha Maung Seik village tract, on file with Amnesty International.
[33] List of Hindu killed in Kha Maung Seik village tract, on file with Amnesty International.
[34]
ARSA Press Release, Ref. No. ARSA/PR/13/2017, 27 September 2017,
https://twitter.com/ARSA_Official/status/913061262958911494; Reuters,
“Myanmar says bodies of 28 Hindu villagers found in Rakhine State,” 24
September 2017.
[35] See, e.g., https://www.facebook.com/noman.alhossain.9/videos/1405458619572008/ (last accessed 18 May 2018).
[36] Reuters,
“Rohingya say their village is lost to Myanmar's spiraling conflict,” 7
September 2017. See also Mahadi Al Hasnat, “Who really attacked the
Rohingya Hindus in Rakhine?” Dhaka Tribune, 1 October 2017,
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/10/01/who-really-attacked-the-rohingya-hindus-in-rakhine/
(discussing the change in testimony to Reuters and other media
outlets).
[37] Amnesty International interviews, Bangladesh refugee camps, 14 and 28 September 2017. See also Agence France-Presse,
“Hindus recount massacre as mass graves unearthed,” 28 September 2017
(describing men in black, but not specifying who the attackers were);
Mahadi Al Hasnat, “Who really attacked the Rohingya Hindus in Rakhine?” Dhaka Tribune,
1 October 2017 (discussing the evolution in stories, with descriptions
of men in black but different versions of who those men were); Suliman
Niloy, “Hindu refugees blame 'Rohingya militants' for attacking them in
Myanmar,” bdnews24.com, 24 September 2017,
https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2017/09/24/hindu-refugees-blame-rohingya-militants-for-attacking-them-in-myanmar
(describing attackers in black who spoke the Rohingya dialect); Moe
Myint, “Hindu Refugee Shares Eyewitness Account of Maungdaw Violence,” The Irrawaddy,
26 September 2017,
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/hindu-refugee-shares-eyewitness-account-maungdaw-violence.html
(identifying the attackers as Muslims).
[38] See, e.g., Radio Free Asia,
“Witnesses Provide New Details of Killings of Hindus in Myanmar’s
Rakhine,” 5 October 2017,
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/witnesses-provide-new-details-of-killings-of-hindus-10052017152154.html;
Global New Light of Myanmar, “’This area is our territory’:
ARSA extremist terrorists,” 5 October 2018,
http://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/area-territory-arsa-extremist-terrorists/;
Shaikh Azizur Rahman, “Mystery surrounds deaths of Hindu villagers in
Myanmar mass graves,” The Guardian, 12 October 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/oct/12/myanmar-mass-graves-mystery-surrounds-deaths-of-hindu-villagers-dirty-tricks-rohingya.
[39]
Amnesty International interviews, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh,
14-28 September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30 April 2018; and
telephone interview, 18 May 2018.
[40]
Amnesty International interviews, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh,
14-28 September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30 April 2018.
[41]
See, e.g., @ARSA_Official Twitter Account, 30 August 2017,
https://twitter.com/ARSA_Official/status/902985387139887105 (linking to
http://faithmovementarakan.blogspot.ae/2017/08/a-r-s-commander-on-ongoing-situation-in.html?m=1,
where a video shows two armed men with dark cloth covering their faces
except for their eyes, standing next to ARSA’s reported head, Ata Ullah,
as he speaks); @ARSA_Official Twitter Account, 29 August 2017,
https://twitter.com/ARSA_Official/status/902590044807892992 (indicating
that YouTube took down an ARSA video and linking to
http://faithmovementarakan.blogspot.sg/2017/08/arsa-commander-addresses-international.html?m=1,
where a video shows two armed men with cloth covering their faces
except for their eyes, standing next to ARSA’s reported head, Ata
Ullah); @ARSA_Official Twitter Account, “ARSA Commander Addresses
International Community and Rakhine People,” 16 August 2017,
https://twitter.com/ARSA_Official/status/897875808349544448 (showing
four armed men with cloth covering their faces except for their eyes,
standing next to ARSA’s reported head, Ata Ullah, as he speaks).
[42]
Amnesty International interviews, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh, 25
and 28 September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30 April 2018; and
telephone interviews with survivors, Sittwe, Myanmar, 17 May 2018.
[43]
Amnesty International was able to geolocate several photographs in the
set, which show members of the security forces and other people wading
through a creek near where the massacre occurred and the bodies were
found. That matches the description of the person who provided the
photographs to Amnesty International, who said that he was among a group
who crossed a creek in order to get to the site of the mass graves. The
close-up photographs of the mass graves and bodies could not be
geolocated, as there were not enough identifiable features in the
surrounding environment. They are consistent, however, with photographs
taken by media outlets including Agence France-Press several days later, when the Myanmar authorities brought journalists to the site.
[44] Forensic Anthropological Analysis of Human Remains from Kha Maung Seik, Myanmar with a focus on Postmortem Interval Estimation, 16 May 2018, p. 12 (on file with Amnesty International).
[45] Forensic Anthropological Analysis of Human Remains from Kha Maung Seik, Myanmar with a focus on Postmortem Interval Estimation, 16 May 2018, p. 12 (on file with Amnesty International).
[46] Forensic Anthropological Analysis of Human Remains from Kha Maung Seik, Myanmar with a focus on Postmortem Interval Estimation, 16 May 2018, p. 2 (on file with Amnesty International).
[47]
Amnesty International interviews, Hindu refugee camp in Bangladesh, 28
September 2017, and in Sittwe, Myanmar, 25-30 April 2018.
[48] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018; and telephone interview, 14 May 2018.
[49] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018.
[50] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018.
[51] Amnesty International interviews, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 and 30 April 2018.
[52] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018.
[53] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018.
[54] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 30 April 2018.
[55] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 30 April 2018.
[56] Amnesty International interviews, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 and 30 April 2018.
[57] Amnesty International interview, Sittwe, Myanmar, 29 April 2018.
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