US Muslims Sue Anti-Muslim Burmese President
According to the plaintiffs, Muslim Rohingya are “subjected to genocide, torture, arbitrary detention, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” by officials controlled by Thein Sein and his ministers, Reuters reported on Saturday, October 3.
The complaint was filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court, just a few weeks ahead of November 8 historic Burmese general election.
It accuses Thein Sein and top officials of planning and instigating “hate crimes and discrimination amounting to genocide.”
The civil lawsuit was filed by Burma Task Force, a group of 19 Muslim organizations, and the Rohingya man Hitay Lwin Oo.
It seeks compensatory and punitive damages for alleged violations of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a US law often invoked in lawsuits alleging human rights abuses.
The government will have a chance to respond to the lawsuit once it is served. It typically takes at least a few months for a judge to decide whether a case may proceed.
Described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, Rohingya Muslims are facing a catalogue of discrimination in their homeland.
They have been denied citizenship rights since an amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 and are treated as illegal immigrants in their own home.
The Burmese government as well as the Buddhist majority refuse to recognize the term “Rohingya”, referring to them as “Bengalis”.
Rights groups have accused the Burmese security forces of killing, raping and arresting Rohingyas following the sectarian violence last year.
Between 2012 and 2013, Buddhists mob attacks have left hundreds of Rohingya Muslims killed and evacuated more than 140,000 from their homes.
The violence has displaced nearly 29,000 people, more than 97 % of whom are Rohingya Muslims, according to the United Nations.
