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Burmese authorities have sentenced more than 100 Rohingya to terms ranging from two to five years in prison for attempting to leave the country without “any legal document”, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Some 112 Rohingya – including 12 children – have been sentenced in Burma to sentences ranging from two to five years in prison for attempting to leave the country without “any legal document”, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday (January 10th).
A Bogale court handed down its verdict on Friday for the group that was arrested in late December as it attempted to reach Malaysia, Global New Light of Myanmar said, citing local police.
The convicted children (five of them are under 13) were transferred to a juvenile education center near the commercial capital Yangon on Sunday, state media reported, without giving further details.
The Muslim Rohingya minority, derogatorily referred to as “Bengalais” in the Burmese media, face widespread discrimination in the Buddhist-majority country.
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Although settled in the country for generations, they are still considered as intruders in Burma, of which they do not have the nationality, nor the same rights as the other inhabitants, in particular to travel.
A procedure against Burma, accused of genocide by The Gambia, is pending before the highest court of the United Nations.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas fled a bloody crackdown by the Burmese army in 2017 to find refuge in camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
Thousands of them – 2,000 according to the UN in 2022 – risk their lives every year in attempts to reach Malaysia or Indonesia by sea.
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A wooden boat with nearly 200 Rohingya on board, the majority of them women and children, landed on the west coast of Indonesia on Sundaythe fifth of its kind according to local authorities.
With AFP