‘We Love Wirathu’ - supporters gather outside court as notorious monk makes first appearance via video link

Myanmar Now

Khin Moh Moh Lwin

Published on Nov 3, 2020  

It is unclear why Wirathu came out of hiding just days before a general election 

Photo - Sai Zaw/Myanmar Now

The hate-preaching monk Wirathu has made his first court appearance after handing himself in to police on Monday almost a year and a half after going on the run to avoid a charge of sedition.

The monk appeared via video link - a measure aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 - to be officially remanded in custody by the Yangon Western District Court, which set the next hearing for November 17.

Militant monks / Carved up along religious lines, Southeast Asia bleeds

SOUTHEAST ASIA 
GLOBE
By: Lindsey Kennedy & Nathan Paul Southern 
April 25, 2019

A toxic mix of nationalism and religious extremism is leading to a wave of political violence across Southeast Asia

In 1998, when Thet Swe Win was in the ninth grade, he picked up a propaganda booklet at school in downtown Yangon. In it, he read that his race and religion were under threat. If Muslims were allowed to spread, the booklet claimed, it would not be long before Burmese Buddhists would vanish.