Amal Clooney to fight for Rohingyas at UN court

MALE: Maldives has hired prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent it at the UN’s highest court in seeking justice for Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslims.

The Maldivian government said it will formally join Gambia in challenging Myanmar’s military crackdown that sent around Rohingyas fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh.

In a unanimous ruling last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Myanmar to implement emergency measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya.

Clooney successfully represented former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed and secured a UN decision that his 2015 jailing for thirteen years was illegal.

Nasheed and several other dissidents have been cleared of any wrongdoing with the fall of president Abdulla Yameen in 2018. Nasheed is currently the nation’s speaker in the national legislature.

The government said it welcomed the ICJ’s decision to order provisional measures to secure the rights of victims in Myanmar and prevent the destruction of evidence in the ongoing case.

“Accountability for genocide in Myanmar is long overdue and I look forward to working on this important effort to seek judicial remedies for Rohingya survivors,” Clooney was quoted as saying by the Maldivian government.

Thousands are suspected to have been killed in the Rohingya crackdown and refugees brought widespread reports of rape and arson by Myanmar’s military and local Buddhist militias.