Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi a “cruel woman” over a lack of inaction against violence against the ethnic Rohingya Muslims in the country, Iranian media reported.
“This is a political issue because the party that has been carrying out the atrocities is Myanmar’s government, at the top of which is a cruel woman who has won the Nobel Peace Prize. And with these incidents, the death of the Nobel Peace Prize has been spelled,” IFP News reported Khamenei as saying.
He also called for Muslim countries to take concrete measures to help end the persecution and said that a Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting should be convened to discuss the matter.
“Of course, practical measures don’t mean military deployments. Rather, they (Islamic governments) have to increase their political, economic, and trade pressure on Myanmar’s government and cry out against these crimes in international organizations,” he said.
More than 300,000 Muslims have been forced to flee Myanmar to Bangladesh after the former’s government said its security forces are fighting “terrorists” behind the latest wave of attacks.
Various world leaders including the UN have criticised Suu Kyi for failing to speak out against atrocities against the Rohingya.