Court convicts five over fake rape report that caused riots

21 March 2015
Court convicts five over fake rape report that caused riots
An angry mob took to the streets of Mandalay in central Myanmar early on July 2, 2014 following a report of a rape, which later proved false. Photo: AFP

A court in Pyinmana has sentenced five people to 21 years’ imprisonment over a fake rape report that sparked deadly sectarian unrest in Mandalay last July. 
According to a court official, speaking on March 20, the five people, including a Buddhist woman who filed a false complaint with police that she had been raped, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the false claims that led to rioting and the deaths of one Buddhist and one Muslim man.
A mob of about 300 Buddhists thronged around a tea shop owned by the Muslim man accused of raping a female Buddhist employee, setting off riots.
The woman later confessed that she had been paid to file the false rape report.