Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of UK award over Rohingya genocide

The British city of Oxford has stripped Myanmar’s de facto ruler Aung San Suu Kyi of a prestigious award over her government’s brutal persecution of Rohingya Muslims.

The city’s councilors retracted Suu Kyi’s 1997 Freedom of Oxford award, which she personally collected in 2012 for her “pro-democracy” campaign as the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

In a statement following a special meeting on Monday, councilor Mary Clarkson said the “unprecedented” move was in response to Suu Kyi’s lack of action to stop what the international community has blasted as Maynmar army’s “ethnic cleansing” of the Muslim minority group.

"Oxford has a long tradition of being a diverse and humane city, and our reputation is tarnished by honoring those who turn a blind eye to violence,” Clarkson said.

"We hope that today we have added our small voice to others calling for human rights and justice for the Rohingya people," she added, blasting Suu Kyi for denying what the United Nations has described as “a textbook example of genocide.”

More than 600,000 desperate Rohingya Muslims have fled the violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and crossed into Bangladesh since late August.

The crackdown, backed by radical Buddhist monks, has left scores of Rohingya villages torched and completely destroyed. Aid organizations have also reported numerous cases of sexual abuse against Rohingya women and children.

EA