The Burmese government has ordered the arrest of a radical Buddhist monk, dubbed the ‘Buddhist Bin Laden,’ over comments he allegedly made about State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ashin Wirathu is a hardline anti-Muslim campaigner and has long been accused of inciting violence against Myanmar’s Muslim minority, in particular against the country’s beleaguered Rohingya Muslims.
Wirathu has apparently fled his compound within the Masoeyein monastery in Mandalay, central Myanmar, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
His recent comments alleged corruption within Suu Kyi’s government, as well as claiming it was trying to erode the power of the military in the nation. They are likely the catalyst behind his newly minted arrest warrant.
Wirathu is a key figure in Myanmar’s radical nationalist movement and pledged his support for the military junta’s crackdown against the Rohingya Muslims, which began back in 2017 and the UN has classified as ‘ethnic cleansing.’
Wirathu’s arrest warrant was issued under the country’s sedition laws, which cover “attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government.”
If convicted, Wirathu faces a possible three-year jail sentence. The ‘Buddhist Bin Laden’ was imprisoned by the military junta before in 2003 but was released nine years later under an amnesty.
While he initially faced pushback against his preaching upon release seven years ago, more recently he has become a prominent figure at military rallies throughout the country, where he has made repeated calls for boycotts of Muslim businesses and referred to Rohingya Muslims as illegal immigrants.
“You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog,” Wirathu said in a 2013 sermon discussing the Muslim community in Myanmar.
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He was banned from entering neighboring Thailand last month and was banned from Facebook in January 2018.
He also pledged to take up arms against the International Criminal Court should it come to Myanmar to investigate the alleged genocide against the Rohingya, in direct breach of his Buddhist vows of nonviolence.
“The day when the ICC comes here,” he said, “is the day that Wirathu holds a gun.”
Meanwhile, Wirathu’s allies have made their own rumblings about the prospect of trouble should he be taken in on sedition-related charges.
“This sedition accusation is bullying him,” Thu Saitta, an ally of Wirathu, said. “We won’t say what we will do if he is arrested, but it is certain that we won’t be calm.”
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