Twitter suspends account of Myanmar’s top general Min Aung Hlaing over genocide against Rohingya
- He used social media to refer to Rohingya people as ‘Bengali’, implying that they were immigrants rather than Myanmar citizens
- On Facebook he denied army atrocities and claimed the military was targeting militants rather than committing genocide
Min Aung Hlaing, the Southeast Asian country’s top-ranking general, had his @sgminaunghlaing account taken offline this week.
He used social media to refer to Rohingya people as “Bengali”, implying that they were immigrants rather than Myanmar citizens. On Facebook he denied army atrocities and claimed that the military was targeting militants rather than committing genocide.
The suspension came after Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, met Twitter executives in Silicon Valley last week and questioned them over why Min Aung Hlaing’s account remained live. The general’s Twitter account had not been used in about a year, but the suspension was still hailed as a significant gesture.
Tun Kinh said: “The fact that Twitter has joined Facebook in deleting his account – which he used to sow hatred and spew out his defensive propaganda – is a massive victory for the Rohingya people.”
He added that “Min Aung Hlaing was the mastermind of the Rohingya genocide … it is crucial that Twitter now follows through in deleting other accounts used by the regime for the same purpose.”