While images of the suffering of Rohingya migrants circulated around the world, local journalists and politicians have faced restrictions in trying to report on and speak out on the issue.

Images of migrants packed in rickety boats grabbed the world’s attention in May. The majority of those were Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma who arrived on the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, only to be sometimes pushed back out to sea.

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority group residing in Burma’s Rakhine state, formerly known as Arakan. In March 2014, Burma announced that the approximately 1.3 million Rohingya would have to register as “Bengalis” – a term used to deny them recognition and to imply that they are all migrants from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship, crowded in squalid camps and socially reviled, often being the target of rhetoric by Buddhist nationalist groups. They have been called the most persecuted people in the world, facing what Human Rights Watch has called “ethnic cleansing” caused by crimes against humanity.

Forced to flee overseas, an estimated 90,000 have fallen prey to smugglers and traffickers since early 2014. The United Nations estimates that around 1,000 people have died on the way.

Burma rejects widespread criticism that its treatment of the Rohingya is a root cause of the current exodus. And while images of the families suffering on the boats circulated around the world, journalists and local politicians face restrictions as they try to report on and speak out on the issue.

Blocked

In late May, Burma’s navy refused to let journalists approach the remote island of Thamee Hla, at the mouth of the Irrawaddy river. More than 700 migrants were said to be held there after they were found drifting in a boat off Burma’s coast. Journalists who tried to take small boats out to the island were either turned back, or briefly detained and questioned. Four Associated Press journalists were among those who were detained. Some were forced to hand over their camera memory cards, or ordered to sign documents promising not to try to make the journey again.

Blocking access to Thamee Hla meant that no media or aid group was able to verify the migrants’ origin. Burma denied the so called “boat people” were Rohingya, saying that all had been from Bangladesh.

Threatened, attacked

Amnesty International has just published a report describing the dangers of reporting on the violent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims, and on the situation of the Rohingya. Journalists have had their equipment destroyed, received abusive letters and phone calls and been threatened with physical violence by extreme Buddhist nationalist groups. Some have received insulting messages on social media. Newspapers have reported being threatened with demonstrations outside their offices or warned that “actions” will be taken against them.

Zarni Mann of The Irrawaddy media group, who had been reporting on clashes in July 2014, told Amnesty:

“During the first day of the violence some men wearing Buddhist monk’s robes and young men armed with iron bars and swords tried to destroy my camera and phone. They told us they would beat us to death because they don’t want their pictures on the newspaper and they also shouted: “No more questions. Beat them up! Smash their heads.” Some of the mob accused me and my colleagues of being members of an Islamic media. They also threatened our photographer saying that they would kill him if they saw their pictures published.

Later we saw the picture of our photographer circulated on Facebook by some individuals supporting Buddhist nationalist movements such as the 969 and the Ma Ba Tha. Underneath the photo was his name and the message: “Find this man, he is a photographer for The Irrawaddy, he reports the news for the Muslims, kill him or destroy his camera.”

There were “strong suspicions” that military authorities may have been behind subsequent threats and cyberattacks against The Irrawaddy in October 2014. The media group has raised questions about whether Burma’s extremist groups, including Buddhist monk U Wirathu’s 969 movement, receive tacit support from the military.