Indonesia Jails 14 Rohingya for Deadly Brawl

5 December 2013

An Indonesian court has sentenced 14 Rohingya asylum seekers from Burma to nine months in jail for their role in a deadly brawl at an Indonesian detention center that left eight Buddhist fishermen from their country dead. The melee occurred eight months ago in North Sumatra province, where more than 100 ethnic Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers and 11 fishermen accused of illegal fishing were being housed together. Most were intercepted off Indonesia’s coast after fleeing Burma in rickety boats. The three-judge panel at the Medan District Court on Wednesday found Sokhat Ali and 13 other men guilty of collective assault resulting in the loss of lives. —AP