The United Nations has called the Rohingya Muslims one of the world’s most persecuted minority groups.

Fleeing  persecution in Burma, the Rohingya see Malaysia, a Muslim country, as a potential safe haven.  But Malaysia has not signed the U.N. convention on refugees, so the Rohingya  find they cannot work legally, or send their children to school — not even those who were born here.

Activists estimate at least 18,000 have arrived in recent months.  Most  had no option but to flee.

A violent attack left Ayub Khan’s arm and neck partially paralyzed. “I tried to run away from the mob, but they caught up to me and slashed me on the shoulder,” he said.

Another refugee, Nayeemah, said human traffickers killed her husband as they wereforced flee with their children via Thailand to Malaysia.

In my country, there’s so much killing, torture and violent attacks, so there was no alternative to live there,” she said. “I had no option except  to leave the country and head to Thailand.

Eman Hossein left on a ship with some 400 others.

When the people died they just threw them in the ocean,” he said. “At least 50 to 55 people died.

About 40,000 Rohingya in Malaysia are registered with the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, giving them some protection from arrest and deportation.  But activists estimate at least that many remain unregistered.

New arrival Nayeemah hopes to leave Malaysia.

If I stay here, I will not be able to send my kids to school, so I want to be resettled to another country,

she said.

Rohingya activist Mohammad Sadek estimates that only about 1,000 Rohingya have been resettled to date.

Many of the refugees are waiting for more than three decades,” he said. “They still remain in the same condition without having any hope. So the UNHCR should resettle them as soon as possible.”

There’s a slim chance of that happening, perhaps. But life as a refugee living in poverty on the margins of Malaysian society is still a life — something many here say is an improvement from where they came.

Two more Rohingya genocide victims have died in southern Thailand after trucks packed with dozens of members of the Myanmar Muslim minority Rohingya group were captured by authorities, police said today.

The two men, both believed to be aged 20, died in hospital of hunger and dehydration yesterday, a day after police reported an innocent Rohingya woman had died from suffocation while making the same journey through the kingdom.

On Sunday Thai authorities found five pickup trucks carrying nearly 100 Rohingya – mostly aged under 18 – in the Hua Sai district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province on the Gulf of Thailand.

“These two men were found to be in a serious condition,” provincial police commander Kiattipong Khawsamang said. “We took them to two local hospitals, where they died from hunger and dehydration.”

Two of the Thai pickup drivers arrested at the scene have been charged with human trafficking, the commander added.

“We are investigating others involved in the trafficking ring and believe we can issue arrest warrants against them soon,” he said.

The 95 surviving migrants are currently being held in shelters in the southern province as Thailand’s social development ministry opts whether to deport them back to Myanmar.

Thousands of Rohingya – described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities – have been forced to flee deadly as result of state sponsored violence in western Burma’s Arakan (Rkhaine) state since 2012.

In recent weeks Thai authorities have discovered scores of the group fleeing dire conditions by making hazardous journeys across the ocean, taking advantage of the slightly apaiser winter waters in the Andaman Sea to head south.

Burma views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.

Rights groups say the genocide victims of Burma often fall into the hands of human-traffickers.

They have also criticized Thailand in the past for pushing boatloads of Rohingya entering Thai waters back out to sea and for holding genocide victims in overcrowded facilities.

The ruling junta says it has taken significant steps to combat trafficking since June, when the United States dumped Thailand to the bottom of its list of countries accused of failing to approach modern-day slavery.Thai deputy foreign minister Don Pramudwinai recently laid out new regulations including a ban on workers under 18 in the fishing industry.

Buthidaung, Arakan State, The rampant and extreme tortures by the jail authority have killed two innocent Rohingya victims of arbitrary detentions in Buthidaung prison recently, a local Rohingya said on Monday.

The victims are some of the many Rohingyas that have been detained arbitrarily over the allegation of inciting the 2012 violence and without any fair trial or any right to legal procedures.

“Rakhine extremists burnt down Rohingya homes and villages in June-July 2012. However, the Myanmar has arbitrarily arrested hundreds of innocent Rohingyas over the allegation of triggering violence and torching Rakhine homes. Subsequently, the people have been arbitrarily handed long-term imprisonments” a local in Buthidaung said.

It has been learnt that, since then, the jail authority has been brutally treating and rampantly torturing them. Therefore, many people have facing untimely and unfortunate demises.

“Three innocent people have recently died due to tortures. They are:

• Nazir Ahmed (son of) Shabbir Ahmed, 33, died at 2:00PM on January 2, hailed from Padin village, Maungdaw Township
• Zainal Uddin, 40, died around 5PM on January 5, hailed from Maung Ni hamlet of Myoma Kayintan (Shidda Fara) village tract.

Their dead bodies were not handed over to their respective families for proper burial according to their religions. But rather, they were buried in the premise of the prison” he continued.

Rohingya Aid Team recently visited the major flood affected areas of Malaysia in Kelantan district of Malaysia and distributed aids to the victims on Saturday, an aid team volunteer said. 

The Rohingya Aid Team consisting of 20 members from Kuala Lumpur headed to the major flood affected areas in Kelantan where both Rohingya and local communities have been suffering from shortage of food, water and shelters.

 The Team delivered 600 sacks of rice, 600 packs of sugar, 600 packs of oil, 600 packs of Maggi, 600 tooth-brush and 600 tooth-past loaded on two lorries. The aids were contributed by Rohingya individuals in Ampang area of Selangor. 

“We, as a team along with necessary aids, started our trip to Kelantan at about 10PM Friday and reached to Kuala Kerai, Kelantan at 9am Saturday morning. We met with the chairman and some elders of Malay community and Rohingya community there” said Sayid Hussain, a member of the Rohingya Aid Team.

 “The both communities welcomed the Rohingya Aid Team and suggested that the aids should be distributed equally to the both communities. With the suggestion of the chairman the aid were distributed to both communities at Dewan Jabatan Haiwan Gushi 7, Kuala Kerai. Sacks of rice, packs of oil and sugar and tooth brushes and tooth-past 200 each were distributed” he continued.  

 Then, the team headed to Kampung Cina Jaya, Kuala Kerai where most of the victim’s complaint that no any aid has reached to them as they stay out of town at about 11am. The team distributed aid to 56 Malay and Rohingya families.

 The team went to some major effected areas of Kelantan and one of them was Kampung Pahi. The team met with the Imam of Kampung Pahi Masjid and called all the villagers and distributed aid to all of them.

 Finally the team headed to Kampung Budi, Kelantan and the remaining aid were distributed to the villagers together with the chairman and elders of that village. While the Malay community thanked Rohingya Aid Team for extending hands to the major flood victims at the time of need.

 The team headed to Kuala Lumpur back at about 4PM on Saturday.