The widow of one of the 10 Rohingya men and boys massacred by Myanmar troops in September 2017 has issued a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, the two Reuters journalists jailed for exposing the massacre to the world.
In a video posted online today, Rahmat Khatun, widow of Shaker Ahmed, is interviewed by Mayyu Ali, a Rohingya poet, who asks her to address the duo’s jailing and Tuesday release.
“We were very disappointed hearing they were jailed for telling the truth about [the] execution of our men. They were kept in jail for 511 days. But yesterday, we heard that they were freed. I am very happy. I feel very very happy for their release,” she says as children playfully run behind her.
Khatun escaped from Myanmar while seven months pregnant, and relied on the generosity of strangers for food and clothing in her grueling first days in Bangladesh, according to a Reuters report. After moving to Kutupalong camp, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where more than half a million Rohingya refugees are living, she gave birth to her ninth child. They rely on U.N. rations of rice and lentils to survive.
Speaking from the camp, Khatun goes on to demand justice and accountability from the Myanmar military.
“And for executing our men, we seek justice from the world and accountability for perpetrators as well,” she continued.
In August 2017, Myanmar security forces began a brutal military campaign of murder, rape and pillage, that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh.
Various international organizations have described the ongoing Rohingya crisis as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”, constituting “crimes against humanity.”
Khatun’s murdered husband, Shaker Ahmed, was a 45-year-old fish seller.
You can read the Reuters report about his killing right here and the stories of the rest of the surviving families in a follow-up report here.
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