13 Rohingya bodies found on roadside in Myanmar, says rights group

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – The bodies of 13 Rohingya were found Monday on the roadside of a village in Myanmar, a rights group said.

The bodies were recovered from Tabinshwehti Road in Barlar village in Yangon Region’s Hlegu Township and sent to a local hospital, said Nay San Lwin, coordinator of Free Rohingya Coalition, in an email.

Activists of the Rohingya rights group went to the Yangon General Hospital and found injury marks on the bodies, indicating torture as a likely cause of death.

“A member of the rights activists visited the hospital and found injury scars on the foreheads, faces, lips, and other parts of the bodies,” Lwin said.

“On November 28th, the junta arrested 68 Rohingya – 54 men and 14 women. I think these 13 victims are from that group. The 13 victims are primarily under 18 years of age,” he added.

Reports in the media tightly controlled by the junta said the people died due to lack of oxygen while smugglers were transporting them on a truck or a car.

It has been five years since more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape a brutal military crackdown, according to the UN.

Some one million refugees have been living in squalid camps of Cox’s Bazar without any immediate prospect of being able to return to their homeland, the UN further said.