Washington (CNN) Myanmar has responded to the stripping of a prestigious human rights award from de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi by claiming the awarding institution was "misled and exploited." The US Holocaust Memorial Museum museum announced Wednesday it was rescinding the prestigious Elie Wiesel Award granted to Suu Kyi in 2012 because she had failed to intervene in the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country's northern Rakhine State. Holocaust Museum has been misled and exploited by people who failed to see the true situation in making fair judgment on the situation in Rakhine State." Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, once a darling of the international human rights community, has been stripped of a number of prestigious awards amid allegations of ethnic cleansing of the country's minority Rohingya population. Myanmar's military has repeatedly denied claims it deliberately attacked Rohingya civilians, insisting instead that it is combating a terrorist insurgency in the province.

Source: CNN March 07, 2018 20:48 UTC