Myanmar jails seven Buddhists over killing 10 Muslims
Yangon (dpa)- A Myanmar court has sentenced seven Buddhists to seven years in jail over the killing of 10 Muslims in an attack on a passenger bus in 2012, their lawyer said Saturday.
A court in Rakhine state handed down the sentence on Friday. The attack was in retaliation for the rape and murder of a girl by alleged Muslim men.
In June 2012, about 300 people belonging to the Buddhist majority stopped a bus carrying Muslims from a religious gathering, dragged 10 of them out and beat them to death before burning the vehicle in Taunggup, in the state of Rakhine, 300 kilometers north of Yangon.
Three Muslim youths were found guilty of murdering the Buddhist girl, whose death prompted the attack on the bus. One youth committed suicide and the other two were sentenced to death in June this year.
Ethnic violence has left more than 280 people dead and another 140,000 homeless since 2012. Most of those killed and displace by the violence are Muslims in Rakhine state, human rights groups say.
Muslims account for less than 10 per cent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people.
