The Myanmar military has released Wirathu, a nationalist Buddhist monk notorious for his anti-Muslim tirades.
In 2019 he was charged with inciting “hate and contempt” against Myanmar’s then civilian government.
Wirathu then went on the run, before surrendering to authorities in November last year. He had been awaiting trial since then.
The military government announced on Monday (06) that all charges against him had been dropped, but did not give any reasons.
It added that he was seeking treatment in a military hospital. Wirathu’s medical condition is not known.
He has been dubbed the “Buddhist Bin Laden” over his speeches targeting Muslims, particularly the Rohingya.
Breaking: Myanmar junta released famous anti-Muslims, Anti-#Rohingya Buddhist Monk #Wirathu this evening. He was charged with penal code section 124 for insulting Daw Aung San Su Kyi during his speech in 2019. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Sep6Coup pic.twitter.com/cSTUN6OISW
— Wai Wai Nu (@waiwainu) September 6, 2021
Who is Ashin Wirathu?
Born in 1968, he left school at the age of 14 and entered the monkhood. He became well known only after he was involved with the nationalist and anti-Muslim 969 group in 2001 – an organization described as extremist,
In 2003 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison but was released in 2010 along with other political prisoners and rose back to prominence two years later after rioting broke out between Buddhists and ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine.
In 2017 Myanmar’s highest Buddhist authority banned him from preaching for one year for his tirades, and in 2018, Facebook wiped his page over hate speech.
He was jailed last November after he turned himself into the authorities over May 2019 charges of attempting to bring “hate and contempt” and of “exciting disaffection” towards the then-government and was awaiting trial, until Myanmar’s current military government released him on Monday (06) for reasons not yet revealed.
