Iran’s humanitarian aid reaches Rohingya Muslims

TEHRAN,Jan.8(MNA)- An Iranian plane carrying humanitarian aid for the displaced Rohingya Muslims landed in Yangon airport in Myanmar on Sunday. According to the Iranian ambassador to Thailand, Hossein Kamalian, the consignment weighing nearly 24 tons includes foodstuff, tents, blankets and a number of other basic commodities. The shipment is provided by the Iranian Red Crescent Society and Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation which will be distributed among the refugees. Concurrent with the shipment of the aid, a number of Iranian lawmakers and Foreign Ministry officials are visiting Myanmar to inspect the situation of Rohingya Muslims. Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar since it achieved independence in 1948. Some 800,000 Rohingyas are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement. Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by Buddhist extremists. Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority. Iran has several times called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international organizations to investigate the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar.