October 7, 2016
A Rohingya Muslim boy died following torture by Rakhine neighbours in Punga Cweng.
On Thursday morning at around 6.30 am, Noor Abbas, 14, went out of the village of Sidoorkool to cut grass. When he did not return later in the day, worried locals launched a search operation.
At around 1pm, they discovered his lifeless body in a pond near a Rakhine settlement. His body bore marks of repeated assault. The boy suffered from epilepsy.
The Sidoorkool village in Punga Cweng is an isolated Muslim settlement in the midst of hostile Rakhine territory. Those who go out of the village for livelihood activities risk getting attacked by hostile Buddhist nationalist gangs. As a result, access to livelihood is difficult and there are chronic food shortages in the village.
Muslim activists allege Buddhist nationalists backed by security forces have imposed a blockade on isolated settlements to deprive them of food and thus force them out of the country.
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