Dhaka (AFP) - The Bangladesh military said
Thursday it has ordered an investigation after a Rohingya family in a refugee
camp accused army troops of raping a 12-year-old girl.
The inquiry comes as around a million
Rohingya in vast camps in Bangladesh face increasing hostility two years after
fleeing a military offensive in Myanmar.
Mohammad Osman, an elder brother of the
alleged victim, said three soldiers entered their shanty at the Nayapara
Rohingya camp on Sunday evening and sexually assaulted his sister.
"She was raped as one of them tightly
held her mouth," he told AFP by phone, referring to the border district
where the refugee camps are located.
Read: Victim of Genocide raped by host’s
troops: https://t.co/LWJuU6dAVs
A spokesman of the Bangladesh Armed Forces,
Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah ibn Zaid, said they were investigating.
"We have formed a probe committee to
investigate the incident and find out the facts. If (they are) found guilty,
exemplary punishment will be given," ibn Zaid told AFP.
Doctor Shaheen Abdur Rahman said the girl was
examined at the central hospital in Cox's Bazar but he refused to comment on
the findings due to court restrictions.
A spokesman of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees said they were also investigating the incident.
"We are aware of the reports. In such
cases, individuals are entitled to medical, physical and psychological support,
as well as access to due process," UNHCR spokesman Joseph Tripura said in
a statement to AFP.
- Tensions -
Tensions have risen in recent weeks with an
increasingly frustrated Bangladeshi government enacting several measures making
life harder for the refugees.
These include blocking mobile internet,
confiscating SIM cards and mobile phones and filing hundreds of cases for
illegally obtaining citizenship cards.
UN experts have expressed "serious
concerns" about the restrictions.
Last week Bangladesh's home minister said
that barbed-wire fencing, guard towers and cameras would be erected around the
Rohingya camps, sparking criticism from rights groups.
Checkpoints set up on the main highways
leading to the camps have stopped Rohingya and sent them back to the
settlements when they try to travel to other parts of Bangladesh.
Hundreds of Rohingya found elsewhere in the
South Asian nation have also been detained and returned to the camps.
Authorities say the internet ban was sparked
by security fears after the Rohingya were blamed for the murder of a local
politician and drug smuggling.
More than a dozen Rohingya -- most accused of
involvement in the murder of the politician -- have been shot dead by security
forces in recent weeks.
Officials also said on Thursday that 45
Rohingya have been charged with infiltration after they were detained illegally
working in a ship-breaking yard.
Rights activists said this could be the first
time Rohingya have been charged with infiltration -- an offence that carries
five years in jail.
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