On Friday at around 5:30 a.m. a Rohingya prisoner died in Buthidaung prison due to inadequate medical treatment, following years of brutal torture. The deceased is known as Abushama (50) son of Basa Mia from Tha Ye Oat, North Maungdaw.
According to the source, BGP arrested Abushama and his son MD Jobair (25) on charges of carrying out communal violence in 2012. Both father and son were sentenced for 12 years by a Maungdaw court and were sent to Buthidaung prison. Like all others arrested in 2012 and kept in Buthidaung jail, they faced inhumane torture.
Abushama has been suffering from hepatitis B from last few months. Abushama’s wife earnestly pleaded numerous times to the prison authority for medical treatment at Buthidaung hospital but they turned a blind eye.
The prison authority didn’t hand over the deceased’s body.
Thousands of Rohingyas were arrested and brutally tortured after they defended their villages against Rakhine vigilantes. The 2012 riots obliterated Rohingya communities outside the frontier region. For the last six years, Rohingyas in these areas have either been herded into IDP camps or their villages have been under intense blockade, cutting them off from livelihood sources and medical facilities.
Incidentally the Buthidaung prison is notorious for the torture carried out against the Muslim inmates. Many say they had been beaten like snakes, and their fingers broken one at a time. Hundreds are believed to have died from torture since 2012.
