SITTWE: A Rakhine Buddhist leader facing treason charges linked to deadly riots appeared in a Myanmar court on Wednesday, a case that has aggravated ethnic tensions in a region also roiled by the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. Aye Maung, once the chairman of an ethnic Rakhine political party, was arrested after the unrest for allegedly making an inflammatory speech against the central government. The following day ethnic Rakhine protesters briefly seized a government building in Mrauk U, an ethnic Rakhine town. Rakhine State regional government have filed charges of 'high treason' against Aye Maung, sitting lawmaker and avowed Rakhine nationalist. “We feel very sorry to see Dr Aye Maung and Wai Hin Aung like this.

Source: New Strait Times March 07, 2018 08:37 UTC