Known as the “Buddhist Bin Laden,” Burmese monk Ashin Wirathu is a far cry from what most people think of as a peace-loving Buddhist monk. According to the Los Angeles Times, Wirathu and the extremist movement he leads, called 969, “represents the blunt edge of systematic religious discrimination in Myanmar that has driven about 1 million Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group, to the farthest margins of society.”
The man stoking Mayanmar persecution served 8 years in prison for inciting religious violence, and was released in 2011. Approximately 100,000 Rohingyas have been forced into internment camps, many succumbing to disease and malnutrition. And many more have recently tried to escape on boats to more Muslim friendly countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
