October 20, 2016
At least two of the community leaders detained by the Hlun Htein have been tortured to death in Nga Khura, Maungdaw North.
At around 2pm on Tuesday, twelve community leaders from the village went to the border police after receiving summons by telephone in the morning. Since they went to the camp, their whereabouts were unknown, leading to suspicions they might have been killed. Now the Hlun Htein has confirmed to BBC Burmese that two of the men – – Siraj (s/o Gura Fotu) and Jinnah Khan (s/o Farid) are indeed dead. They say the two men have died from asthma and blood pressure, though locals had earlier suggested they were being tortured to death.
Four men, including three teenagers have also been arrested by the Hlun Htein on Wednesday. Two of them are the sons of Siraj. They have been identified as Abu, 20, and Achay, 18. One of them is a son of Jinnah. He has been identified as Fawaz Khan, 19. There are reports a 17 year son of Jinnah has also been arrested. The other arrested young man is Sadek, 28.
Since October 9, many who went in to the custody of the security forces have been killed. Torture of detainees is a common occurrence in Arakan state leading to a painful death for hundreds of Muslims. Torture and arbitrary killings have increased since October 9 after the security forces started a crackdown against Muslim rebels.
The other community leaders arrested with the two men tortured to death have been identified Sayeed Alam, 59, Shah Alam, 37, Sadiq, 41, Zakir, 56, Jabbar, 60, Osman, 43, Ayub, 55, Anwar,42, Yusuf Ali, 65 and Anwar, 40. They are known for their involvement with local politics. Their fate is unknown and there are reliable reports they also face brutal torture in custody. Family members and local sources say they might also turn up to be dead in the coming hours.
The men went to the border police because it was threatened the whole village would be destroyed if they did not follow the orders. Nga Khura has remained tense since day one of the recent standoff and the security forces allege some of the men here have joined the resistance, albeit they did not provide any evidence to follow up on the claim.
Nga Khura suffers from severe food shortages as all access outside homes is restricted by security forces. Three men who went to fish on the river on Saturday were shot by the Tatmadaw. One have died while two are suffering amid complete lack of medical access.
Some others from the area are presumed to be dead following operations by the military.
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