December 28, 2015

French NGO worker arrested in Bangladesh while working with Rohingya

A French national working with an Islamic NGO has been arrested in Bangladesh, reportedly accused of "suspicious activities" that could mean up to 10 years in jail. He was working with the Rohingya minority, Muslims who have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Puemo Tchantchuing, who prefers to be known as Moussa Ibn Yacoub since his conversion to Islam, was arrested on Tuesday 22 December and has been detained since then.

As well as being accused of "suspicious activities", punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, he may be charged with using a false identity, because the name he uses is not the one on his passport and identity card, according to lawyer Samim Bolaky.

He was working for the French-based NGO Baraka City, which says he was stopped at a checkpoint while going to schools and orphanages in the south of the country where the Rohingya camps are situated.

"He is being kept in catastrophic conditions in cells that contain more than 40 prisoners," Bolaky said. (Courtesy of english.rfi.fr)

No comments:

Post a Comment