Fury at Suu Kyi's genocide denial to world court
December 14, 2019 21:06
When Aung San Suu Kyi rose to denounce genocide charges against her country at the world court last week, three victims of Myanmars ethnic violence were sitting close behind the Nobel peace prize winner disbelieving and seething with anger.
Hamida Khatun, Yousuf Ali and Hasina Begum had travelled from the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp outside Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh to sit on the legal delegation attending the International Court of Justices emergency hearing in The Hague, in the Netherlands.
Khatun, 50, and Ali, 46, voted for Aung San Suu Kyi in 2010 when, after 15 years of house arrest, she represented a figure of democratic hope defying the military dictatorship.
In the 2017 Myanmar military clearance operations targeting the Rohingya, however, Khatuns husband disappeared and her friends were murdered; Ali was tortured and sexually assaulted by police officers he knew.
Only outside the court could they reveal the extent of their disenchantment. Khatun said she had been tempted to launch a physical attack. Ali admitted it had been difficult to sit quietly. Begum, now 22 but too young to vote in 2010, declared she could have eaten the Myanmar leader. All three were convinced she was lying.
The claim that Myanmars military carried out mass murder, rape and destruction of Rohingya Muslim communities was brought by the Gambia, a west African state that belongs to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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