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In brief

Amnesty reveals massacre of Hindus committed by Rohingya armed group

Slaughter took place during the August 2017 conflict

 
ARSA militants.
ARSA militants. Author: @ARSA_official via Twitter
Persecution by the Burmese authorities and several armed groups launched in August 2017 against Rakhine state’s Rohingya people —which led to ethnic cleansing with thousands of Rohingya killed and nearly 700,000 fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh— had another, equally serious face albeit of much smaller scale: a Rohingya armed group perpetrated a massacre against a Hindu minority community in northern Rakhine. Amnesty International has published a report —the result of an on-the-spot investigation— which documents the murder of more than 100 Hindus by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

According to the report, ARSA’ Rohingya militiamen killed, 25 August, 53 Hindus in a village, while 46 more disappeared from a neighbouring settlement without leaving a trace. The rights group believes to be likely that they were all killed. The following day, another 6 Hindus were killed by ARSA members. Some witnesses say that 16 women and children saved their lives on condition of converting to Islam and marrying whom ARSA ordered.

“Nothing can justify […] violations and crimes” committed in Burma against the Rohingya, Amnesty insists. The group holds the Burmese authorities responsible for having committed “crimes against humanity” against the Rohingya, even before the events of August 2017. “But similarly, no atrocities can justify the massacre, abductions, and other abuses committed by ARSA against the Hindu community.”