Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
On September 25, the Arakan Buddhist militia (Arakan Army) released 21 Rohingya, including children, after months of brutal torture that left them with critical injuries and severe malnutrition. A 10-year-old boy and a 50-year-old man were killed while attempting to flee during the group’s transfer to a detention center.
According to local sources, the 23 victims, all from Barun Chaung village in Buthidaung Township, were abducted on May 12 while collecting bamboo in a nearby forest and were then forced to march to a detention center in Maungdaw.
Survivors reported that militia members opened fire on the two victims as they stopped to rest; the boy was killed instantly, while the man suffered fatal injuries.
The released detainees described their experience in custody as “brutal torture,” including nail removal, burning of the skin, severe beatings, and starvation, leaving some children in critical condition who had to be hospitalized.
A local village official told Arakan News Agency, “I could hardly recognize them when they stood before me after their release. Their chest bones were sticking out as if they had starved for days, and some children were in critical condition and were taken to the hospital,” confirming that the released individuals are still suffering from the effects of the torture.
Two days after their release, two survivors, Isub (40) and Taher (35), fled with their families to Bangladesh, warning that living under the oppression of the Arakan militia was unbearable.
The Rohingya continue to suffer under the Arakan Army’s rule, facing widespread abuses, including the closure and seizure of their homes based on false complaints, confiscation of valuables, forced displacement of many families, and strict restrictions on movement between villages enforced through a network of security checkpoints at the entrances and exits of every Rohingya village.
The Arakan militia launched a military campaign in November 2023 against the Myanmar military to take control of the state, seizing 14 out of 17 towns. The conflict has ensnared the Rohingya, who have endured violence, forced displacement, and persecution by both sides, after already suffering a “genocidal campaign” by the Myanmar military in 2017 that forced nearly one million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
