A/HRC/39/CRP.2 Visit of Ashin Wirathu to northern Rakhine State 1160. In May and July 2017, the monk Ashin Wirathu visited northern Rakhine State. In early May, Wirathu reportedly visited the locations of the 9 October 2016 attacks, among other villages, with an armed escort from the BGP. 2617 It was also reported that, as part of this trip, Wirathu had a private meeting with the Brigadier General of the BGP in Kyi Kan Pyin. At the end of this five-day trip, Wirathu was reportedly seen off by high-ranking military officials, including a colonel of the Western Command. The Arakan National Party (ANP) welcomed the visit publicly and reportedly made donations for his entourage. 2618 1161. Wirathu returned to Rakhine State on 11 July 2017. 2619 He travelled from Sittwe to northern Rathedaung, where he visited both Zay Di Pyin and Chut Pyin village tracts. Both are majority ethnic Rakhine areas but with a significant Rohingya population, and both were locations of “clearance operations” encompassing serious human rights violations some weeks later.2620 Wirathu first convened a meeting and delivered a sermon at the Zay Di Pyin monastery, reportedly attended by a large number of people,2621 and travelled to nearby Chut Pyin the following day for a similar meeting. 2622 As one Rohingya man commented: I myself saw Wirathu in Zay Di Pyin. When Wirathu came, all the villagers were welcoming him using their Buddhist flags. Rakhine villagers announced with a megaphone the arrival of the “Honourable Monk Wirathu”. After the meeting, I also learned from some Rakhine friends that Wirathu was there.2623 Given the incendiary nature of Wirathu’s public statements towards Muslims and the Rohingya, this visit is likely to have heightened tensions in the area. A few days after the visit of Wirathu to Zay Di Pyin, the Rakhine village administrator reportedly called the Rohingya elders to a meeting. One person who attended was told: “This is not your land. This is not your country. Go away from here.”2624 Another villager in Chut Pyin noted that, after the visit, harassment of Rohingya villagers, by both Tatmadaw soldiers and ethnic Rakhine, increased.2625 Arrest, detention and torture of Rohingya from Chut Pyin 1162. On approximately 14 July 2017,2626 a group of Tatmadaw soldiers and BGP entered the village of Chin (Pyaing Taung), Chut Pyin village tract, Rathedaung Township, in the middle of the night. They rounded up and arrested eight men. The men were severely beaten, handcuffed, tied up together to a metal chain and marched to the BGP base in Zay Di Pyin. 2627 For four or five days, the men were tortured, including through continuous beatings and burning of their genitals with candles. 2628 Four men were then released, following payment of a significant bribe by their village elders. 2629 The other four were reportedly sent to Sittwe prison to be charged with terrorism offences. There is no information about their whereabouts, charges laid against them or any judicial process. 2630 2617 2618 2619 2620 2621 2622 2623 2624 2625 2626 2627 2628 2629 2630 274 V-223, V-224, V-225, V-226. See also Wirathu’s own website noting his “West Gate Security Tour of May and July”, https://www.eng.wirathu.com/2017/07/25/west-gate-security-trips-1/ (accessed August 2018). V-227, V-228. V-223, V-224. CI-177, LI-129, QI-115, LM-012. LI-129, QI-115, LM-012. LI-129, LM-012. LI-129. LI-129. CI-177. V-067, V-218. CI-186, CI-190, RI-005, RI-009, V-067. CI-190, RI-009, V-067. CI-186, CI-190, RI-009. CI-186, CI-190.