Parts of Lashio, such as this market, were destroyed in the unrest |
June 12, 2013
A Burmese Muslim man has been sentenced to 26 years in jail for an
attack on a Buddhist woman that led to at least two days of violence in
Shan State in May.
Nay Win, 48, was convicted for setting the woman alight at a petrol station.
After the attack, Buddhist youths armed with sticks roamed the streets in the town of Lashio in search of Muslims.
In recent months there have been several clashes between the two
communities throughout Burma, but so far only Muslims have been jailed.
In March, at least 43 people - mostly Muslims - died in violence that
erupted after an argument at a Muslim-owned shop in the central town of
Meiktila.
The owner of the shop and nine other people, also Muslims, were imprisoned last month for that violence.
Ethnic violence in Rakhine state last year left nearly 200 people dead and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
The conflict that erupted in Rakhine involved Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, who are not recognised as Burmese citizens.
Burns
Nay Win, described by state media as a drug addict, was convicted on
Wednesday of intent to kill, assault and drug use by a court in Lashio.
The victim, 24, suffered burns in the attack, police say.
At least one person was killed and a mosque and orphanage burned down in
the ensuing violence, which reportedly erupted after police refused to
hand over Nay Win to a crowd.
"We arrested about 60 people found by security forces with sticks and
knives during the violence," police spokesman Major Moe Zaw Linn told
the AFP news agency.
He said that Nay Win was the first person to be convicted in relation to the violence.
Correspondents say that various episodes of religious unrest - mostly
targeting Muslims - have exposed a deep divide in the Buddhist-majority
country and cast a shadow over widely acclaimed political reforms which
began when military-rule ended two years ago.
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