By AFP
YANGON — A Rohingya Muslim was stoned to death and six others wounded by a mob of ethnic Rakhine men in Sittwe, authorities said Wednesday.
“One Muslim was killed and six others injured. Two are still hospitalised,” a local officer told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The Rohingya men were granted permission to leave their displacement camp on the outskirts of the city to give statements at a criminal case in the Sittwe Township court, state media reported.
After attending court they requested a police escort to a nearby dock where they discussed purchasing a boat from a local businessman.
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“At the boat jetty, an argument developed,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
“They were attacked by several people with bricks,” it added, referring to the incident as a “fatal stone throwing”.
Myanmar has long faced international condemnation for its treatment of the Rohingya, who are considered one of the world’s most persecuted people.
The Rohingya trapped in displacement camps struggle to access food, education and healthcare, conditions many have likened to a form of apartheid.
The group is loathed by many in Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, who view them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh despite many tracing their lineage back generations. Hardline Buddhist nationalists aggressively protest any move to grant them citizenship.
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected a UN probe of the alleged atrocities carried out by soldiers against the Rohingya, insisting it will inflame tensions.
