SITTWE, Myanmar: The UN’s rights envoy for Myanmar arrived in troubled Rakhine state on Friday for a trip north to probe allegations of horrific abuse of Rohingya Muslims by security forces.
Special rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee touched down in the state capital Sittwe as part of a 12-day visit to investigate escalating violence in Myanmar’s restive ethnic border areas.
Lee has faced threats and been branded a “whore” by Buddhist hard-liners on previous visits for her criticism of how Myanmar treats the Rohingya, a stateless group that has suffered years of poverty and repression.
Over the past three months they have been targeted by a military crackdown in northern Rakhine that the UN said has forced at least 65,000 to flee across the border to Bangladesh.
Shortly after arriving in Sittwe Lee met with senior local officials from Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy party and the military, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.
Earlier a senior figure from the nationalist Arakan National Party, which controls the state Parliament and aggressively opposes any moves to grant the Rohingya citizenship, said they had refused to meet with Lee.
“They offered to meet with us from their side but we have no plans to meet them,” ANP’s Vice President Khine Pyi Soe told AFP.
Villages in northern Rakhine have been under military control since October as the army stages “clearance operations” to find Rohingya insurgents allegedly behind deadly raids on police border posts.
The crisis has drawn a storm of international criticism for the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which took power in March.
Lee has slammed the lockdown as “unacceptable” and called for an international investigation into claims troops have raped, murdered and tortured civilians from the Muslim minority.
Ahead of her trip, she said violence in Rakhine had contributed to “disquiet regarding the direction that the new government is taking in its first year.”
Muslim-majority Malaysia has lashed out at Nobel laureate Suu Kyi for not stopping the violence, and next week will host foreign ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for talks on the crisis.
Bangladesh has urged Myanmar’s government to take back the thousands of refugees that have entered already overcrowded camps along the border.
“Bangladesh has demanded (the) quick restoration of (a) normal situation in Rakhine state so that Myanmar nationals... can quickly go back home,” Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali said after meeting Myanmar’s special envoy in Dhaka this week.
Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides had “agreed to commence consultations for verification and repatriation” of those who had fled the lockdown.
![]()
UN rights envoy in Rakhine to probe Rohingya abuse
UN rights envoy in Rakhine to probe Rohingya abuse
Duterte drew up ‘death lists’, boasted about murders: ICC prosecutor
- Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte personally drew up “death lists” and boasted about murders committed during his “war on drugs“
THE HAGUE: Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte personally drew up “death lists” and boasted about murders committed during his “war on drugs,” an International Criminal Court prosecutor alleged Tuesday at a crimes against humanity hearing.
On day two of proceedings against Duterte, ICC prosecutor Edward Jeremy laid out searing testimony including allegations that children had their heads wrapped in packing tape and strangled to death.
“As president, Duterte publicly named persons he alleged were involved in drugs, and many of those would end up as victims in his so-called war on drugs,” Jeremy said.
The “Duterte list” was “basically a death list,” Jeremy cited a witness as saying, showing a video of Duterte himself saying: “I am the sole person responsible for it all.”
Duterte faces three ICC counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.
Prosecutors say this is a “mere fraction” of the thousands believed killed in his “war on drugs” as mayor of Davao City and then president.
“As witnesses stated, the poor were often targeted, because they were the ones least likely to file complaints against the police,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy played a clip of Duterte joking about “extrajudicial killings” during a speech.
“And in this opulent, gilded, presentation room, the officials laugh along with their president while he boasts about his skills in extrajudicial killing,” said Jeremy.
“And outside on the streets of the Philippines, the bodies pile up.”
Jeremy alleged that almost 1,500 people had already been killed at the time of this clip.
The week-long ICC proceedings are not a trial but a “confirmation of charges” hearing, enabling judges to weigh whether to move ahead with a trial.
Duterte, 80, is not in the courtroom after exercising his right not to appear.
His defense team says he is weak and in cognitive decline. The prosecution and victims counter that he is healthy but does not want to face loved-ones of victims.
The court passed him fit to attend but granted him his right to absence.
Once the hearings wrap up Friday, the court will take up to 60 days to decide whether to proceed to a full trial, usually by written judgment.
Duterte’s defense lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, on Monday said his client “maintained his innocence absolutely.”
Kaufman argued that while Duterte used “bluster and hyperbole” in his speeches, he also frequently ordered authorities only to shoot in self-defense.
On day two of proceedings against Duterte, ICC prosecutor Edward Jeremy laid out searing testimony including allegations that children had their heads wrapped in packing tape and strangled to death.
“As president, Duterte publicly named persons he alleged were involved in drugs, and many of those would end up as victims in his so-called war on drugs,” Jeremy said.
The “Duterte list” was “basically a death list,” Jeremy cited a witness as saying, showing a video of Duterte himself saying: “I am the sole person responsible for it all.”
Duterte faces three ICC counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.
Prosecutors say this is a “mere fraction” of the thousands believed killed in his “war on drugs” as mayor of Davao City and then president.
“As witnesses stated, the poor were often targeted, because they were the ones least likely to file complaints against the police,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy played a clip of Duterte joking about “extrajudicial killings” during a speech.
“And in this opulent, gilded, presentation room, the officials laugh along with their president while he boasts about his skills in extrajudicial killing,” said Jeremy.
“And outside on the streets of the Philippines, the bodies pile up.”
Jeremy alleged that almost 1,500 people had already been killed at the time of this clip.
The week-long ICC proceedings are not a trial but a “confirmation of charges” hearing, enabling judges to weigh whether to move ahead with a trial.
Duterte, 80, is not in the courtroom after exercising his right not to appear.
His defense team says he is weak and in cognitive decline. The prosecution and victims counter that he is healthy but does not want to face loved-ones of victims.
The court passed him fit to attend but granted him his right to absence.
Once the hearings wrap up Friday, the court will take up to 60 days to decide whether to proceed to a full trial, usually by written judgment.
Duterte’s defense lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, on Monday said his client “maintained his innocence absolutely.”
Kaufman argued that while Duterte used “bluster and hyperbole” in his speeches, he also frequently ordered authorities only to shoot in self-defense.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.