Khamenei: Islamic Governments Should Take Practical Action Against Myanmar Government

The leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referred to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize laureate, as a "ruthless woman" due to what he called her "inaction" regarding the situation of Muslims in Myanmar, and called for "practical action" from Islamic governments against the actions of that country's government in this regard. IRNA reported on Tuesday (September 12) that Khamenei made this request at the beginning of his advanced jurisprudence class. His reference is to the conflict between the Myanmar government and the Rohingya Muslims, which has led to the displacement of thousands of Muslims from that country and their flight to Bangladesh. Khamenei described the solution to this conflict in Myanmar as "practical action by Muslim countries and political and economic pressure on the ruthless government of Myanmar." He explained that by "practical action," he did not mean military intervention but rather an increase in political, economic, and trade pressure on the Myanmar government and raising their voices against these crimes in global forums. According to the report, he called the reduction of the events in Myanmar to a "religious conflict" between Muslims and Buddhists as "incorrect" and added that "this issue is a political issue because the executor is the government of Myanmar." Khamenei added that at the head of the Myanmar government is "a ruthless woman who has won the Nobel Peace Prize and with these events, in fact, the death of the Nobel Peace Prize has occurred." He was referring to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and advisor to the Myanmar government, who has recently faced severe criticism from human rights activists following the release of images of what has been termed state violence against Muslims, with calls for the Nobel Peace Prize to be revoked from her. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been designated as a "government advisor" equivalent to a prime minister, recently described reports about the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar as "fake news" and blamed "terrorists" for spreading "false news" about the Rohingya Muslims. However, Khamenei criticized Ms. Suu Kyi and other human rights activists on Tuesday, stating that "these atrocities are happening before the eyes of Islamic countries and governments and hypocritical and lying global human rights bodies by the ruthless government of Myanmar." The leader of the Islamic Republic also criticized the UN Secretary-General for what he called "merely condemning the crimes in Myanmar." Khamenei also called for the formation of an Islamic Cooperation Organization conference on the events in Myanmar. Previously, Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, severely criticized Aung San Suu Kyi in an interview with Radio Farda, stating that "what has happened in Myanmar is a crime against humanity." The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced on Tuesday that the number of Muslim refugees who have fled the violence in Rakhine State in western Myanmar to Bangladesh has reached 313,000. Violent clashes in the Muslim-majority Rakhine State in western Myanmar began on September 3 with an attack by Muslim militants on a police station, and the Myanmar armed forces also began their retaliatory operations. In these violent clashes, many villages have been set on fire, and hundreds of people, most of whom were Rohingya Muslims, have been killed. Many Buddhists in Myanmar, who make up the majority of the country's population, refer to the Rohingya Muslim minority as Bengalis and claim they have illegally migrated from Bangladesh, although many of these Muslims have lived in western Myanmar for generations. The Bangladesh government’s Human Rights Watch organization states that those responsible for the violence against the Rohingya Muslims must be prosecuted and punished. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, also described the events in Myanmar as "brutal crimes against Muslims" and called on the government of that country to prevent the continuation of the violence. Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, recently emphasized that the violence of the Myanmar government against the Rohingya Muslims in that country "can only be stopped with military force," and criticized that, according to him, the Islamic Republic is "more concerned about Shiites," stating that Turkey has acted better in this regard than Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran has had contradictory positions on the massacres of Muslims in some countries over the years based on its political relations with various countries. For instance, in 2009, simultaneous with the protests against the results of the presidential election in Iran, the silence and delayed reaction of the Iranian government to the suppression of Muslim protesters in China drew much criticism in Iran.