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Men who raped 12-year-old refugee girl still at large, says family

Three men accused of raping a 12-year-old girl from the Ngek Chaung Muslim refugee camp in northern Rakhine state’s Pauktaw township still haven’t been arrested, according to relatives of the victim.  

Maung Nu, an uncle of the girl who was raped, said that the incident took place at the home of a 45-year-old man named Mawlawi on November 30. 

Mawlawi, who is also a camp resident, and two other men are wanted in connection with the brutal sexual assault.  

“When I arrived, she was bleeding from her private parts. Her nose and mouth were also bleeding. She had cuts and bruises on her hands and legs, caused by scissors and spikes. When I saw her, her hands had already been untied,” said Maung Nu. 

He said that the girl had been working as a maid at the homes of Mawlawi and one of his relatives. She was accused of stealing 1.2m kyat ($900) from one of the homes on November 26.

Police Lt-Col Hla Htay, the deputy police chief of the Pauktaw city police station, said that the three suspects fled when officers were sent to the camp to investigate the matter.

He confirmed the details of the attack, but said that the actual rapists were the two other men, who were identified as relatives of Mawlawi, and not Mawlawi himself, who is being treated as an accessory to the crime.

“It’s true that she was tied with a rope. It’s also true that they beat her with sticks and kicked her. It is for this reason that we spoke to neighbors who were witnesses,” he said, adding that local police are working with their counterparts in Sittwe to arrest the fugitives.

The rape victim, who was initially sent to Pauktaw hospital, is currently receiving medical treatment in Sittwe. 

The victim’s family has filed multiple charges against the three suspects, including rape, accessory to rape, and unlawful confinement.

The Ngek Chaung refugee camp is located about four miles from the town of Pauktaw and has more than 1,000 households. It is home mainly to local Muslims displaced by communal clashes that broke out in 2012. 

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