myanmar for the rohingya. for decades they labeled them as illegal immigrants and denied them citizenship. it has raised fears among other muslims in myanmar who do enjoy full citizenship rights. translator: the hate speech overwhelmed the minds of most of the people in myanmar. if you look at these people, it s all because of fear. and because of this fear, they are afraid of us and we are afraid of them. reporter: in 2015, there was hope that the election of nobel peace prize winner aung san suu kyi would calm religious tensions. the murdered muslim lawyer was one of her top legal advisers and a defender of the rohingya muslims. aung san suu kyi s government labeled his killing an act of terrorism, a trial of several suspect suns way. but even one of aung san suu kyi s muslim supporters argues the political climate in myanmar is toxic.
conyers. we are strengthened by due process. just because someone is accused, was it one accusation or was it two? i think it has to be john conyers is an icon in our country can. he has done a great deal to protect women, the violence against women act, which the right wing is now quoting me as praising him for that work on that. and he did great work on that. but as john reviews his case which he knows, i don t, i believe he will how it is please may i finish? sure. that he will do the right thing. joining us from london, a professor of international politics at city university. thank you so much for being with us. a lot to cover. i want to start with president trump s continued support of alabama republican senate candidate roy moore who has been
dozen rohingya refugees when he makes the second stop on this southeast asian tour in bang der. rosemary? and we will talk about that in just a moment. ivan watson, many thanks to you. joining us there from hong kong. let s go to phil robertson now, who joins us from bangkok, thailand. he is the deputy director for the asia division of human rights watch. thank you so much, sir, for being with us. of course. as we heard from ivan watson there, after the pope s visit to myanmar, he does plan to go to bangladesh where the rohingya refugees are located, and we understand he may very well meet with some of those refugees. how likely it is that the pope will do that? and what impact would such a meeting have if he does go ahead and talk to rohingya refugees? well, we hernl hope that he will, because the are really a forgotten people. they have been stripped of their name by the burmese government. they have been stripped of their
in buddhist nationalism there and i would argue a surge in islamophobia as well. funeral for a fallen man. this was the scene in january after the brazen daylight shooting of a well-known flower myanmar. the victim was an outspoken member of myanmar s tiny muslim religious minority. his daughter says he was gunned down while cradling his 2-year-old grandson outside yangon international airport. when i turn around and looked, and my father was on ground. so it just run and help him. but at that time is there no sign of life. reporter: his killing came during a surge of religious tension in this overwhelmingly buddhist country. a phenomenon cnn reported on two years ago. who is threatening buddhism in this country? muslim. reporter: muslims only make
more than 600,000 rohingya muslims across the border to bangladesh. rosemary? and as you mentioned, pope francis will meet myanmar s de facto leader aung san suu kyi who was once revered for protesting against the country s military dictatorship. now she is criticized for not derest announcing the violence towards the rohingya refugees. explain to us why there is so much hatred directed towards the rohingya population? why are they treated so brutally by the government? for outsiders, myself included, because it s hard to understand. myanmar is multi-ethnic and state there are over 135 ethnic groups. the are not one of those groups. the government refuses to use the word rohingya, often referring to them as bengali. but what is clear there is that there is in recent years a surge