A township court in northern Rakhine State sentenced 199 people—most of whom are Rohingya Muslims from Maungdaw—to five years in prison on Tuesday under the Immigration Act for “illegally trying to migrate” to Malaysia by boat, one of their lawyers told Myanmar Now.
One day after the conviction, 90 minors among them were released, but the adults were detained in Buthidaung Prison, the lawyer added.
The lawyer, who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity, said that he would ask for a reduced prison sentence in a higher court for the remaining 109 people, including 102 Rohingya, five other Myanmar nationals who were manning the boat in question, and two Bangladeshi nationals.
“Five years is the maximum sentence. Their families believe that the sentences are unfair and they will try to appeal,” the lawyer explained.
A total of 234 Rohingya were initially arrested by the Myanmar navy in late November in the waters near Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. Thirty-five children under the age of 10 were released soon after the arrests, according to the lawyer.
The incident marked the latest attempt by members of the heavily persecuted community to flee the dire conditions in the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya remain confined in camps in what rights groups have described as apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine State since deadly violence erupted in 2012. Denied work and educational opportunities, as well as access to services such as healthcare, many thousands of Rohingya have tried to flee Myanmar in overcrowded boats bound for Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Late last month, authorities in Buthidaung tightened travel restrictions against local Rohingya, requiring them to obtain a permission slip from an immigration office in order to leave the township.
Without calling the Rohingya by name, the November 25 order from the Buthidaung township adminstrator said that some “Muslim people” had been travelling beyond their own townships, districts, states, and regions without a document known as a Form 4, and that this threatened local security and rule of law.
Those who travel without permission slips face legal action, with the new rule in effect for two months from the date of issue, the order said.
Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to state-sponsored persecution and violence for decades in Myanmar and denied citizenship and freedom of movement.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine State—mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh—starting in August 2017 amid Myanmar military-led mass killings, gang rapes, and arson, in what rights groups and UN investigators have declared was part of a genocidal campaign against the group.
UN investigators said in 2018 that the use of Facebook played a key role in spreading hate speech that fuelled the violence.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are suing Facebook for $150b in the US over the company’s alleged failure to prevent its platform from being used to incite violence against the minority group.
“The company’s failures to police content and its platform’s design contributed to real-world violence faced by the Rohingya community,” the legal complaint says.
