Burmese authorities have sentenced 112 Rohingyas, including 12 children, to prison terms ranging from two to five years for attempting to leave the country without
"any legal document"
, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday (January 10th).
A court in Bogale (south) delivered its verdict on Friday for the group which had been arrested at the end of December, while trying to join Malaysia, said the
Global New Light of Myanmar
, citing the local police.
The convicted children - five of them are under 13 - were transferred to a juvenile education center near the commercial capital Yangon on Sunday, state media reported, without giving further details.
The Muslim Rohingya minority, derogatorily referred to as “Bengalais” in Burmese media, face widespread discrimination in the Buddhist-majority country.
Although settled in the country for generations, they are still considered as intruders in Burma, of which they do not have the nationality, nor the same rights as the other inhabitants, in particular to travel.
A procedure against Burma, accused of genocide by The Gambia, is underway before the highest judicial body of the United Nations.
Read alsoCoup d'état in Burma: terrified, the Rohingyas still support the revolt
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas fled a bloody crackdown by the Burmese army in 2017 to find refuge in camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
Thousands of them - 2,000 according to the UN in 2022 - risk their lives each year in attempts to reach Malaysia or Indonesia by sea. A wooden boat with nearly 200 Rohingyas on board, the majority of women and children, landed on the west coast of Indonesia on Sunday, the fifth of its kind according to local authorities.
