Myanmar Says Images of Rights Violations in Maungdaw Are Fake

The Myanmar government said Thursday that photos showing alleged rights violations in Rakhine state’s Maungdaw township are fake, despite reports by the United Nations and rights groups that security forces there have killed unarmed residents, burned down villages, and made arbitrary arrests.

The U.N. and rights groups have accused soldiers and police of violating the rights of civilians during their sweep of the Muslim-majority area in northern Rakhine state following deadly raids earlier this month on border patrol posts and ensuing clashes between soldiers and police and groups of armed men. Some say the death toll from the violence has been greater that what has been reported.

The government has accused an extremist Muslim terrorist organization funded by Islamists abroad for the attack, and have locked down the area to search for the perpetrators. Muslim Rohingya groups have asserted that security forces deployed in Maungdaw have committed rape and other forms of violence under the cover of the antiterrorism campaign.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay, who is also deputy director-general of the President’s Office, told RFA’s Myanmar Service that people in other countries sent old photos and videos to the U.N., rights groups and international news organizations of communal violence that took place four years ago between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, trying to pass the images off as current.

The 2012 clashes left more than 200 people dead and displaced 140,000 Muslims who ended up in internal refugee camps.

“Some also posted them on social networks like Twitter as if they were [images of] the problems right now in Rakhine state,” he said. “And because they did this, the media might think they are current photos and videos of Rakhine state.”