A/HRC/39/CRP.2
circulation of these images “together with incendiary remarks” through “anonymous
channels on the internet”. It highlighted that the “pictures and news spread even to Rakhine
villages and towns without internet access”.1307
627. According to The New Light of Myanmar, on 3 June 2012 the Wunthanu Rakkhita
Association distributed leaflets to the local population at crowded places in Toungup,
southern Rakhine State, with the woman’s picture. They asked the population of Toungup to
“take notice” that Muslims were “intentionally assaulting” Rakhine women. On the same
day, a crowd of 300 people in Toungup killed a group of 10 Muslim pilgrims travelling by
bus to Yangon.1308 Given the circumstances described in the article, the attack appears to have
been pre-planned.
628. From 8 June 2012 onwards, violence spread across Rakhine State and lasted at least
until August 2012. A second wave of violence hit Rakhine State in October 2012. It affected
the Rohingya, ethnic Rakhine and Kaman communities across 12 townships. Further violence
took place in Thandwe in 2013. Between 2012 and 2013, security forces - sometimes acting
alongside the Rakhine - committed serious human rights violations against Rohingya and
Kaman across Rakhine State. This included the burning of houses,1309 looting of shops,
extrajudicial and indiscriminate killings, including of women, children and elderly people. 1310
Bodies were often taken by the authorities, with the subsequent whereabouts unknown. 1311
The authorities also conducted mass arbitrary arrests of Rohingya and subjected them to
torture in police stations and in Buthidaung prison. 1312 The security forces also willingly
failed to intervene to stop the violence committed by the ethnic Rakhine or by the Rohingya.
There was also a further tightening of general restrictions against the Muslim population. 1313
According to the Rakhine Inquiry Commission, 192 people were killed, more than 265 were
injured and 8,614 houses were destroyed. These figures are believed to be well below the
actual scale of the violence.
629. While many other townships were also affected by the violence, the Mission examined
in detail events in three main locations as emblematic of the broader picture: Maungdaw in
June 2012, Sittwe in June 2012 and Kyaukpyu in October 2012.
(a)
Maungdaw violence – June 2012
Maungdaw town - 8 June 2012
630. On Friday 8 June 2012, during the weekly Jumma prayer, the Muslim community in
Maungdaw town honoured the 10 Muslim men killed in Toungup five days earlier.1314 The
prayer gathering was planned to take place at the Munshi mosque 1315 in the town centre. A
large number of men arrived at the mosque. Muslim leaders tried to stop further people from
gathering as the mosque was very crowded.1316 The prayer ended abruptly, including because
stones were thrown towards the mosque from the nearby Myoma monastery. People left the
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
148
Inquiry Commission on Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State, Final report (July 2013), p. 8.
New Light of Myanmar, “10 Muslims killed in bus attack” (5 June 2012).
CI-052, CI-066, CI-068, CI-069, CI-076, CI-077, CI-078, CI-082, CI-083, CI-084, CI-085, CI-087,
CI-088, CI-091, CI-094, CI-097, CI-098, CI-163, CI-165, CI-167, CI-168, CI-170, CI-171, CI-172,
CI-173, CI-174, DI-004, DI-007, DI-012, DI-020, DI-021, DI-023, DI-024, DI-038, DI-051, DI-054,
DI-055, DI-075, QI-076.
CI-069, CI-074, CI-077, CI-080, CI-083, CI-085, CI-086, CI-165, CI-166, CI-167, CI-168, CI-170,
CI-173, CI-192, CI-193, DI-002, DI-004, DI-007, DI-008, DI-020, DI-021, DI-022, DI-023, DI-024,
DI-038, DI-047, DI-049, DI-054, DI-073, QI-076, ZI-002.
CI-061, CI-068, CI-088, CI-174, DI-002, DI-022, DI-038.
CI-065, CI-068, CI-072, CI-073, CI-076, CI-079, CI-080, CI-083, CI-087, CI-089, CI-091, CI-094,
CI-096, CI-173, CI-175, CI-193, DI-004, DI-006, DI-012, DI-020, DI-037, DI-038, DI-054, DI-073.
See this chapter, section B: Systermic oppression and persecution of the Rohingya.
CI-173, CI-174, CI-175, CI-192, CI-193, DI-004, DI-012, DI-025, DI-073, XI-008.
Also known as Jame mosque.
DI-056, DI-073.