Burma detains police officers identified in Rohingya abuse videos
FORUM Staff
Burmese officials apprehended four law enforcement officers after a video emerged showing several Burmese police attacking Rohingya civilians.
“Those who [were] initially identified were detained,” said a statement released by the office of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the ruling National League of Democracy party, according to a January 2017 Agence France-Presse report. “Further investigations are being carried out to expose other police officers who beat villagers in the operation.” Burmese officers were conducting an area clearance operation in Kotankauk village.
In the video, police hit a young man in the head as he walks — with hands behind his head — to sit on the ground with dozens of other villagers. Three uniformed officers then attack one of the men seated on the ground, according to Agence France-Presse, beating him with a stick and kicking him in the face.
Included among the four men named by Suu Kyi’s office was Zaw Myo Htike, a constable, who looked “nonchalantly into the camera smoking” while recording the video, Agence France-Presse reported.
In recent months, similar video footage of police brutality had also emerged. Human rights activists have accused Suu Kyi of not doing enough to protect Rohingya, described by some rights groups as a stateless people. The Rohingya people are also listed among the most persecuted in the world, according to Agence France-Presse.
“Unfortunately, the scene this video depicts isn’t unique or an isolated event,” Matthew Smith, founder and chief executive officer of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization operating in Southeast Asia, Switzerland and the United States, told Agence France-Presse.
The news agency reported that Burmese authorities have detained 600 people since the area clearing operation began in October 2016. Six of them died in police custody under unexplained circumstances, Agence France-Presse reported.
As a result of the alleged police brutality, about 50,000 Rohingya have crossed into neighboring Bangladesh to escape the abuse. (Pictured: Bangladeshi security officers watch over Rohingya Muslims who crossed from Burma into Bangladesh in December 2016.)
