Harrowing voyage for Rohingya Muslims

(The Christian Science Monitor) Last October, Mohammad Idiris put himself in the hands of human traffickers in Myanmar. His decision followed years of experiencing the ethnic persecution of Rohingya Muslims, and it started a harrowing journey of more than six months that did not bring him to his chosen destination, Malaysia.

Thousands of Rohingya, acting out of  desperation in Myanmar and lured by unscrupulous traffickers, are taking dangerous boat journeys that have left many adrift on the open ocean and others, unable to pay ransom, killed in camps. Mass graves have recently been discovered in Thailand and Malaysia.

Idiris said that traffickers lied to him, held him for ransom, and shuffled him between boats. His ordeal on the open seas ended in early May when his crowded ship landed on the coast of Aceh, a province in Indonesia. On May 20, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to shelter some 7,000 boat people, mostly Rohingya.