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Suu Kyi stripped of Freedom of Oxford award

London: Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of the Freedom of Oxford award over her "inaction" in handling the raging Rohingya refugee crisis and turning a "blind eye to violence" in the country that forced over 600,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

Oxford City Council voted unanimously last night to permanently remove the honour given to 72-year-old Suu Kyi in 1997.
"On Tuesday we have taken the unprecedented step of stripping her of her city's highest honour because of her inaction in the face of oppression of the minority Rohingya population," Councillor Mary Clarkson said.
"We hope that on Tuesday we have added our small voice to others calling for human rights and justice for the Rohingya people," she said in a statement.
More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh following a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state, creating one of the world's most dire refugee crisis. Last week, Myanmar signed a deal with Bangladesh to allow the refugees to return home.
While the United Nations has described the violence and mass exodus as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", Suu Kyi has dismissed all allegations.
Oxford City Council said that when Suu Kyi had been given the Freedom of the City it was because
she reflected the city's values of "tolerance and internationalism" and as a celebration of her opposition to oppression and military rule in Myanmar but now any association with her would tarnish the city's reputation.
"The burning of their [Rohingya] villages has been independently confirmed by satellite images, and the UN has called the situation 'a textbook example of
genocide' yet Aung San Suu Kyi has denied any ethnic cleansing and dismissed numerous claims of sexual violence against Rohingya women as 'fake rape'," it said.
"Oxford has a long tradition of being a diverse and humane city, and our reputation is tarnished by honouring those who turn a blind eye to violence," it added.
A series of UK institutions have been distancing themselves from the Nobel Peace laureate in the wake of the Rohingya crisis.

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