Sittwe IDP camp manager, accused of raping over 40 women, arrested

Narinjara News, 24 February 2023

A Muslim manager of Phwe Yar Kone IDP camp in Say Tha Mar Gyi village-tract under Sittwe township, who is accused of raping more than 40 refugee women during 2012 to 2022, has been arrested by the police.

U Osman Gawni, who is also accused of a murder attempt in the internally displaced people’s camp, now being detained in Sittwe as the victims have raised voices for stringent punishments to him.

The manager allegedly threatened the victims with physical assaults and thus abused 40 female refugees including married women, mental patients and also minors.

One of the rape victims filed a case in Sittwe township court last year under sections 923 and 376 of the penal code. But the victim's elder brother was pressurized to settle the case out of the court and finally she withdrew the charge, said a women's rights activist.

Soon after the incident, Osman Gawni along with his brother and friends started threatening other rape victims not to talk about the matter to anyone. Otherwise they were warned with kicking out of the camp and even killed if the situation arises. So the women remained
silent for all the days.

But later 9 women including rape victims filed a complaint against Osman Gawni on 3 September last year demanding action against him.

A victim informed that the police have already detained the perpetrator, but no visible action is taken till now.

“Osman Gawni and U Maung Maung Than committed the crime. They threatened to take us out of the camp if we go to the police station. Our lives have been severely affected. We want both of them to go to the jail. They must not stay in our camp,” she added.


Daw Nyo Aye, chairperson of Rakhine Women's League, which has been helping the victims, said that there might be many more rape victims in the camps.

“May victims have not spoken yet for various reasons. We are helping them to get justice without considering their ethnicity or religions. When they narrated their depressing stories, we ourselves felt a deep pain. For us, they are women with no religious identities and they should get justice,” added the lady.

An underage girl, who was also among the victims, demanded the death penalty to the manager and his close supporters.

“My life has been ruined. I want him to be hanged or at least imprisoned for the entire life,” she asserted.

Narinjara News contacted the Sittwe Myoma police station to get details about the incident, but it turned futile.

The rape victims now suspect that this kind of crimes may have taken place in other IDP camps too. The women are afraid of speaking about the matter of rape for various family and social reasons and hence the rape victims now claim that the accused must be punished to set an
example in  the society.