Facebook is ‘deleting’ Rohingya Muslim reports of ‘ethnic cleansing’

More than 400,000 had fled the Buddhist-dominated country, also known as Myanmar, to Bangladesh after a crackdown following attacks by Rohingya militants on police targets.

Now Rohingyas claim Facebook is trying to silence them by removing their posts and shutting their accounts down, reports The Daily Beast.

Facebook told The Daily Beast they are looking into the story when approached for comment.

Mohammad Anwar, a Kuala Lumpur-based Rohingya journalist, told the news outlet that the social network has removed his posts and threatened to disable his account.

One post taken down by Facebook shows military activity including helicopters in Burma's troubled Rakhine State which has the biggest population of Rohingyas.

The social media giant sent Anwar a message which read: “We removed the post below because it doesn’t follow the Facebook Community Standards.”

Anwar also posted a shocking snap of the Burmese Army burning down a Rohingya Hamlet – a post which was also removed with the same message from Facebook.

Laura Haigh, Amnesty International’s Burma researcher, told The Daily Beast “there appears to be a targeted campaign” to report Rohingya-supported accounts and have them shut down.

In response to this report, a Facebook spokesperson told The Sun Online: "We want Facebook to be a place where people can share responsibly, and we work hard to strike the right balance between enabling expression while providing a safe and respectful experience.

"That’s why we have Community Standards, which outline what type of sharing is allowed on Facebook and what type of content may be reported to us and removed.

"These include hate speech, fake accounts, and dangerous organisations. Anyone can report content to us if they think it violates our standards.

"It doesn’t matter how many times a piece of content is reported, it will be treated the same. In response to the situation in Myanmar, we are carefully reviewing content against our Community Standards.”

Pressure grew on Burma today as a rights group urged world leaders to impose sanctions on its military.

The call from Human Rights Watch came as the UN General Assembly prepared to convene in New York, with the crisis in Burma one of the most pressing topics.

There are acute shortages of nearly all forms of aid, with many Rohingya huddling under tarps as their only protection from monsoon rains.

Burma hinted yesterday it would not take back all who had fled across the border, accusing those refugees of having links to the Rohingya militants whose raids on police posts in August triggered the army backlash.

Any moves to block the refugees' return will likely inflame Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, who will urge the General Assembly to put more global pressure on Burma to take back all the Rohingya massing in shanty towns and camps near the border.

Human Rights Watch also called for the "safe and voluntary return" of the displaced as it urged governments around the globe to punish Burmese army with sanctions for the "ongoing atrocities" against the Rohingya.

"The United Nations Security Council and concerned countries should impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the Burmese military to end its ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims," the group said in a statement.

It called on the General Assembly to make the crisis a priority, urging countries to impose travel bans and asset freezes on Burmese officers implicated in the abuses, as well as to expand arms embargoes.

Last week, heartbreaking pictures showed a baby who had drowned when one of the dozens of boats carrying Rohingya refugees to the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf capsized.

The tragic images showed mum Hamida wailing in grief as she holds the lifeless body of her 40-day-old son.

Other snaps to emerge from the crisis at the weekend included a mob of Rohingya refugees appearing to savagely beat then LYNCH a man accused of being a child snatcher.

The man is seen being attacked by more than 20 people - some of whom are young boys - before being tied to a tree as he begs for his life.

Source: The Sun