Myanmar arrests about 60 returning Rohingya refugees, despite saying it would not
Myanmar has detained dozens of Rohingya refugees who have tried to return home, the UN human rights chief said on Wednesday, questioning the sincerity of the government’s purported repatriation programme. Myanmar has said it stands ready to welcome back some of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh since August, but so far fewer than 200 have been resettled in their homeland in northern Rakhine state. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said his office had received reports that 58 Rohingya who tried to make it back to Rakhine were "arrested and convicted on unspecified charges". "They then received a presidential pardon, but have simply been transferred from Buthidaung prison to a so-called ‘reception centre,’ in conditions that appear tantamount to administrative detention," Zeid said in an oral update on the crisis to the UN Human Rights Council. "Government representatives have repeatedly stated that Myanmar is ready to accept return...
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