DHAKA: Three Nobel peace laureates have called on Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a fellow laureate, to put an end to the “genocide” against the Rohingya minority.
Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Shirin Ebadi of Iran and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen on Wednesday ended a visit to Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
They vowed to bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice via the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Suu Kyi “must stop turning a deaf ear to the persecution of the Rohingya or risk being complicit in the crimes,” said Karman. “Wake up or face prosecution.”
If Suu Kyi fails to stop the killings, “her choice is clear: Resign or be held accountable, along with the army commanders, for the crimes committed,” added Karman.
Ebadi said Suu Kyi is “directly responsible.” The three laureates said they had written to her repeatedly urging her to stop the atrocities against the Rohingya, but received no reply.
The three laureates shared with reporters the experiences of Rohingya women they spoke with at the camps.
“My 18-year-old daughter had her breasts cut off and she died,” the laureates quoted a woman in Thyankhali camp as saying.
Maguire said: “The torture, rape and killing of any one member of our human family must be challenged, as in the case of the Rohingya genocide.”
Ebadi asked: “Where are the Muslims?” She urged them to make a “united effort to stop this crime.”
She added: “If today we turn a blind eye to these crimes, there will be many more like this in the future.”
The three laureates on Wednesday met with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and thanked her for her generosity toward Rohingya refugees.
3 Nobel laureates slam Suu Kyi over Rohingya ‘genocide’
3 Nobel laureates slam Suu Kyi over Rohingya ‘genocide’
Greta Thunberg released from custody after arrest at UK pro-Palestinian protest
- UK-based campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said Thunberg was earlier arrested under the Terrorism Act
- City of London Police said Thunberg had been bailed until March
LONDON: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was released from custody after being arrested on Tuesday in London at a pro-Palestinian protest, police said.
UK-based campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said Thunberg was earlier arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.” The British government has proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
City of London Police said Thunberg had been bailed until March.
Police said earlier two other people had been arrested for throwing red paint at a building. A spokesperson said 22-year-old woman later attended the scene and was arrested for displaying a placard in support of a proscribed organization.
Prisoners for Palestine, which supports some detained activists who have gone on hunger strike, said the building had been targeted because it was used by an insurance firm which they said provided services to the British arm of Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.
The insurance company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thunberg, 22, became prominent after staging weekly climate protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.
Last year, she was cleared of a public order offense in Britain as a judge ruled police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London the year before.
She was detained along with 478 people and expelled by Israel in October after joining an activist convoy of vessels, the Global Sumud Flotilla, that attempted to reach Gaza with aid supplies. Israel has consistently denied genocide allegations.
