The Hague, Netherlands (Agencies): The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has applied for an arrest warrant for General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military regime, over crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Hlaing is accused of crimes against humanity, including deportation and persecution.
Nearly a million people were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape the 2017 military crackdown, which UN experts have referred to as a “genocidal campaign,” amid evidence of ethnic cleansing, mass rape, and killings. ICC judges authorized an investigation into these events in 2019, stating there was a “reasonable basis to believe widespread and/or systematic acts of violence may have been committed that could qualify as crimes against humanity.”
Although Myanmar is not a state party, Bangladesh ratified the ICC Rome Statute in 2010, allowing the court to have jurisdiction over some crimes related to the Rohingya due to their cross-border nature. Khan announced the application for an arrest warrant for Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during a visit to Bangladesh, where he met members of the displaced Rohingya population.
Hlaing took power from Myanmar’s elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in a coup in 2021. Serving as commander in chief of the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar, since 2011, he is accused of directing attacks against Rohingya civilians. The arrest warrant application “draws upon a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources such as witness testimonies, including from a number of insider witnesses, documentary evidence, and authenticated scientific, photographic, and video materials,” Khan’s office said.
This application is the first against a high-level Myanmar government official since the ICC investigation started seven years ago.