By Rohingya TV, April
21, 2017
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| Getty Image: |
Maungdaw — A
Rohingya inmate died in the Kyaukphyu prison in Arakan State of Myanmar (Burma)
on Wednesday (Apr 19).
The inmate suffering
from unidentified diseases fell sick and was reportedly taken to the hospital
by the jail authorities, where he passed away.
The deceased inmate
is identified as Siraj Johar (33), s/o Yusuf Ali, from the village of Thawan
Chaung locally known as Bossara in Maungdaw Township. He was imprisoned in the
Buthidaung Prison in 2013 and shifted to the Prison in Kyaukphyu Township after
the violence began in Maungdaw Township in October last year.
“The Border Guard
Police (BGP) arrested three villagers (including the deceased inmate) at our
village in 2013 under the accusation of illegally travelling to Bangladesh. And
the Maungdaw Court subsequently sentenced them to 5 and half years in prison
under the same charge and sent them to Buthidaung Prison.
“After the military
offensives began in Maungdaw in October 2016, the inmate was transferred to
Kyaukphyu prison, where he died from unidentified diseases”, said a villager in
Thawan Chaung (Bossara), while speaking to Rohingya Vision TV on the condition
of anonymity.
When asked if the
jail authorities informed the family of the inmate about his death, the
villager added “no, the authorities didn’t inform his family about his death.
They came to know through other people that he died in the prison and the
police handed over his body to the local Muslims in Kyaukphyu for a proper
burial.”
The family of the
inmate has lost contact with him since he was shifted to Kyaukphyu prison in
late 2016.
The Myanmar
authorities often subject the Rohingya people in Arakan State (now known as
Rakhine state) to extrajudicial killings, arbitrary imprisonments without
(proper) trials and deaths by tortures in jails.