More Rohingya villagers arrested in Maungdaw south

September 3, kaladanpress

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Nasaka (Burma's border security force) personnel arrest and harass the Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw south constantly without any obstacles. Many Rohingyas were arrested over the allegation that they were involved in the recent communal violence occurred which was happened on June 8, said a local elder on condition of anonymity.
Recently, some Rohingya villagers were arrested by Nasaka personnel from Udaung village under the Nasaka area No. 8 of Maungdaw Township.  After arrest, they were detained in the camp and severely tortured.

"Of them, some have been identified as Moulvi. Abdul Motalob (40), son of Noor Ahamed, Salim Ullah (45), son of Boduran, Majiullah (20), son of Salim Ullah, Eliyas (43), son of Kasim, Noor Kamal (18), son of Ibrahim, Iqbal (16), son of Ibrahim, Rahamat Ullah (25), son of Lal Meah, Leta (30), son of Amin, Zahid Hussain, son of Fazal,, Moulvi Anwar (70), son of Ahamed Hussain, Noor Mohamed (55), son of Tazu Mulluk, Lal Meah (55) son of Abdu Karim, Azi Rahaman (50), son of Lal Meah, Leta (50), son of Taqgul and Azimali (60).  They all hailed from Udaung village tract of Maundaung township. They have been detained and severely tortured in the Nasaka camp and demanded huge money for their release."

"However, of them, six Rohingya villagers were recently released after paying Kayt 200,000 to 450,000 per head."

Again, yesterday night, four Rohingya villagers were also arrested from Udaung Village Tract by the Nasaka personnel of Udaung out-post camp under the Nasaka area No. 8. They are detained in the Nasaka camp, so far, according to a village elder that declined to be named.

The four arrested have been identified as Shamsu (25), son of Ismail, Imran (22), son of Moulvi Hashim, Moulvi Nazim Ullah (27), son of Abdullah and Afzu Rahaman (22).  They all belong to   Udaung village tract. The Nasaka demanded money from them for their release, but they refused to pay the money. So, they are detained and beaten up continuously in the camp.

One of the recently released arrestees after paying money said, "The arrested villagers are severely tortured to extort money. Even the stools of Nasaka are applied to the bodies of arrestees."

The situation in north Arakan State remains extremely bad as the concerned authorities continuously arrest, torture and extort money from Rohingya villagers though there is international pressure to Burma. It seems that the Burmese government does not take any care to the international community. The concerned authorities are implementing their policies against the Rohingya community as they like, said a local leader from Maungdaw Town preferring not to be named.

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Update News from Maung Daw, Arakan (02-09-2012), Rohingya Blogger

Maung Daw, Arakan ,Monday, 3rd September 2012, 2:30 AM ,At 4:00 AM on Sunday, 2nd September 2012, a two-star-ranking top police officer called Than Tin was arrested by Myanmar government. The police officer has been in forefront in arresting and torturing innocent Rohingyas and arbitrary extortion of money. He was found in the Sky View Guesthouse with some arrested Rohingyas and caught with the money extorted from them. 

"At 4:00 AM yesterday, a joint group of different departments raided the Sky View Guest House. It is the Guest House which was mostly reserved by the police officer where he used to take the arrested Rohingyas to extort ransom money. Those Rohingyas who could not give the ransom money were tortured severely. The joint operation caught him with the millions of money extorted from innocent Rohingyas. In the raid, some Rohingyas were found detained in the guesthouse. These were Rohingyas who were unable to give the ransom amount of money the police officer demanded. 

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to the media who spread the news about the officer's brutal acts. We would like to thank all the people who worked hard to make the news about his barbaric behavior reach to all the concerned quarters such as international human rights workers and president Thein Sein etc. We also plead the President to carry out the same kind of operations against the remaining cruel police officers who have been committing equal number of crimes against Rohingyas though not more. We would like to ask the home ministry how the same police officers are able to take charge of a place, Maung Daw, without any transfers for more than a decade" said a Rohingya from Maung Daw on the condition of anonymity. 

Besides, Dr. Nurul Haque, a Rohingya medical doctor from Maung Daw, has been sentenced to three-year-imprisonment for the possession of Bangladesh Phone SIM card. He was arrested soon after the violence against Rohingyas erupted in Arakan. It is to let everyone know that almost all Rakhines, Police Officers and others are using Bangladesh Cell Phone Lines. Rather, in many border areas, people use the phone network the neighboring countries as to their comfort ability. If the using of the phone network of the nearby countries is illegal, the law should be applied to all regardless of race and religion. Therefore, imprisoning only him for the possession of a SIM card is unjustified and illogical while Rakhines and police officers are continuing their use of the same SIM cards of the same phone lines. 

Moreover, there were many Rohingya scholars arrested in Maung Daw in 2008 and later time and sentenced to many years' imprisonments with false cases. They are still serving imprisonments in different prisons in Arakan. Consequently, Rohingyas, today, hardly have any medical doctors and scholars. Therefore, Rohingyas from Maung Daw appeal the President to pardon and release Dr. Nurul Haque and all other Rohingya scholars. 

Compiled by M.S. Anwar
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31 Aug (kaladanpress): Burma's border security force (Nasaka) shot dead two Rohingya youths, Jaber-25 s/o Shab Meah and Saber-30 s/o Ramjan Ali, yesterday after releasing them at Maungdaw Township. The two youths belong to Dagriza village under the Nasaka headquarters of Kawar Bill of Maungdaw north.
The two youths were arrested by the Nasaka personnel of Nasaka Headquarters on August 26, over the allegation that they had been holding mobile sets without permission of concerned authorities and released  after taking Kyat 1, 50,000 per each on 30 Aug.

(Kaladan Press): Yesterday, Burma's border security force (Nasaka) arrested two Rohingya youths, Noor Kabir-22 s/o Abdu Rajak and Arafat-25 s/o Abdu Salam while they were sitting in a village sentry house at about 4:00 pm, a local elder said preferring not to be named. Both of them hailed from Naribill village of Maungdaw north. After arrest, they were brought to the Nasaka camp where they were detained. They are the students of class ten. However, they were released after taking Kyat 100,000 per each.