TEHRAN – Iran’s Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslim countries to take concrete measures to help end the persecution of ethnic Rohingya Muslims, while criticising Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi over a lack of inaction against the violence.
“This is a political issue because the party that has been carrying out the atrocities is Myanmar’s government, at the top of which is a cruel woman who has won the Nobel Peace Prize. And with these incidents, the death of the Nobel Peace Prize has been spelled,” Iranian media quoted Khamenei as saying.
Khamenei also stressed that an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting should be convened to discuss the matter, according to IFP News. “Of course, practical measures don’t mean military deployments. Rather, they (Islamic governments) have to increase their political, economic, and trade pressure on Myanmar’s government and cry out against these crimes in international organizations.”
More than 300,000 Muslims have been forced to flee Myanmar to Bangladesh after the Buddhist-majority government said its security forces are fighting “terrorists” behind the latest wave of attacks.
Nobel Prize winner Suu Kyi has been under severe criticism by various world leaders including the UN for failing to speak out against atrocities against the Rohingya – the most persecuted minority in the world.
