A/HRC/39/CRP.2 703. The presence of key northern Rakhine State officials in the editorial board indicates that these articles had their backing or at least their tacit approval. It gives an indication of the attitude of State officials towards the Rohingya shortly ahead of the 2012 violence. The themes covered in the magazine were amplified and used more systematically to cultivate the hate environment against the Rohingya prior to and after the commencement of the violence. 704. On 29 May 2012, seven days before the report in the New Light of Myanmar, the Narinjara newspaper published an article about the murder of Ma Thida Htwe the previous day, and referred to it as the “worst homicide case in Myanmar”. Quoting a police officer, the article stated that the woman was raped by “Kalars”. This article was republished in the Arakan Independent Bulletin with a graphic picture of her dead body. The author called on all the ethnic Rakhine to be united when dealing with the Rohingya issue.1522 705. On 1 June 2012 – three days after the murder of Ma Thida Htwe and two days before the killing of the 10 Muslims in Toungup – Zaw Htay, the spokesperson of the President of Myanmar, posted a statement on his personal Facebook account. He warned about the arrival from abroad of “Rohingya terrorists” from the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) and stated that the Myanmar troops would “completely destroy them”: Rohingya terrorists as members of the RSO are crossing the border into Myanmar with weapons. … Our troops have received the news in advance so they will completely destroy them [the Rohingya]. It can be assumed that the troops are already destroying them [the Rohingya]. We don’t want to hear any humanitarian or human rights excuses. We don’t want to hear your moral superiority, or so-called peace and loving kindness. (Go and look at Buthidaung, Maungdaw areas in Rakhine State. Our ethnic people are in constant fear in their own land. I feel very bitter about this. This is our country. This is our land.) (I’m talking to you, national parties, MPs, civil societies, who are always opposing the President and the Government.)1523 706. Although this post was later deleted, the impact of a high official equating the Rohingya population with terrorism may have been significant ahead of the 2012 violence, which erupted a week later. 707. On 8 June 2012, the newspaper Eleven Media – one of the most widely read publications in Myanmar – reported on the violence that took place that day in Maungdaw. Under the title “Curfew imposed in Rakhine Township amidst Rohingya terrorist attacks”, it attributed the violence exclusively to “Rohingya terrorist attacks” and made no mention of the violence carried out by ethnic Rakhine and security forces against the Rohingya. 1524 708. Both the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and the 88 Generation Students group made anti-Rohingya statements in two articles published by Eleven Media. These quotes went far beyond the specific events that took place in Maungdaw on 8 June 2012. The RNDP statement was reported as being made as early as 4.15 pm on 8 June, only about three hours after the beginning of the violence. It labelled the violence as “terrorist attacks” and stressed the fact that the Rohingya were not among the 135 recognised ethnic groups in Myanmar: Rohingyas are not the national ethnics. As successive government officials favoured and issued them national registration cards by taking briberies, they are acting as the over-indulgent persons. Due to the control of Rakhine ethnics, they could not widely spread until now. The prevailing attacks mean insulting the hosts by the guests. This is a terrorist attack.1525 1522 1523 1524 1525 168 Arakan Independent Bulletin, Issue 4, No. 11 (May 2012), pages 3-6. V-247. Eleven Media, “Curfew imposed in Rakhine township amidst Rohingya terrorist attacks” (8 June 2012), available at: http://aboutarakaneng.blogspot.com/2012/06/curfew-imposed-in-rakhinetownship.html Eleven Media, “Curfew imposed in Rakhine township amidst Rohingya terrorist attacks” (8 June 2012), available at: http://aboutarakaneng.blogspot.com/2012/06/curfew-imposed-in-rakhinetownship.html