Wirathu, the hate-spewing monk dubbed “WiWi” by many Myanmar netizens, is officially a fugitive.
Myanmar police yesterday upped the ante on the firebrand cleric, asking the public for help in tracking him down and encouraging citizens to call in offer tips as to his whereabouts, according to RFA Burmese.
A deadline for Wirathu to turn himself in at Yangon’s western district court to face charges of sedition, came and went on Tuesday without him appearing.
The hardline Buddhist monk, infamous for his Islamaphobic rants and ultranationalist streak, found himself in hot water after remarks he made at a rally criticizing the civilian government’s efforts to amend the military-drafted constitution in May.
He remains on the run a week after a government official opened a case against him under Section 124(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code despite telling the Irrawaddy last week that he was ready to “face the arrest.” According to local media reports, he was allegedly in Yangon earlier in the week, only to then surface in Kayin State two days ago.
This isn’t the first time Wirathu has had run-ins with the law. In 2003, he was imprisoned after helping to incite a deadly anti-Muslim riot. After he was released from an amnesty nine years later, he has since traveled around Myanmar delivering hate-filled sermons against Muslims.
Wirathu has been banned from Facebook and even the Russian social media site VKontakte (VK) for his part in whipping up anti-Muslim sentiment in Myanmar, whose military stands accused of crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide for the brutal August 2017 military campaign that has driven more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh.
Despite the lifetime ban on VK, videos featuring Wirathu have popped up on the site as recently as yesterday in which he provides updates on his condition and plans. In the latest, Wirathu maintains that he’s not a fugitive, but simply waiting on orders from the Yangon Region Sangha Council.
“I arrived in Yangon to meet the Yangon Region Sangha Council and I only found out about the warrant then. I had planned on turning myself in on the 3rd. I asked them to prepare everything I needed in jail. Then they postponed the meeting, so I will wait until they reschedule,” he says in the video.
“I will face the arrest only after the Yangon Region Sangha Council speaks to me,” he added.
As for that call to the public, it’s hard to know if the police really expect much help. The number they asked people to call, after all, is basic emergency number 199, which suggests they aren’t expecting to be swamped with tips.
Attempts to contact police spokesperson Col. Myo Thu Soe and the Yangon Region Sangha Council went unanswered.
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