I. Human Rights Violations and National Verification Cards 50 In August 2018, Human Rights Watch documented how Myanmar officials pardoned 62 Rohingya prisoners, took them to a Border Guard Police (BGP) compound in the village tract of Nga Khu Ya in Maungdaw Township, and forced them to take NVCs, threatening them with re-arrest if they attempted to leave the compound.135 A Rohingya man, 51, from Maungdaw Township imprisoned in Buthidaung Prison for five years similarly told Fortify Rights how the BGP brought him to the Nga Khu Ya transit point and forced him to accept an NVC.136 He said: [The BGP] kept me [at the Nga Khu Ya transit point] for five days and forced me and others to take the NVC. They told me that I was coming from Bangladesh and had to receive the NVC. In the end, I was made an immigrant from Bangladesh. They forced me to receive it. They threatened me. I was unable to deny it and did not want to go back to jail. In May 2018, my NVC was issued.137 In some cases, the authorities reportedly threatened Rohingya with re-imprisonment if they did not accept the NVC. For example, a Rohingya man from Nyaung Chaung village in Maungdaw Township told Fortify Rights: I was in prison from August 2016 until May 2017. I was forced to take the NVC. I told the Myanmar authorities, “I don’t want this. I am from Myanmar.” The authorities threatened me, saying, “If you don’t take it, we’ll throw you back in prison.” I was angry. I was sad.138 He described his treatment in detention, saying: “The authorities beat me. They kicked my back and chest. I think I experienced over 50 beatings by police in jail. I still feel pain in my chest from the beatings.”139 The authorities also issued NVCs to Rohingya upon their release from detention without discussion or violence. For example, a 52-year-old Rohingya man from Maungdaw Township imprisoned in Kyauk Pyu Prison in Kyauk Pyu Township between 2015 and March 2018, said: When I was released from prison, they gave me an NVC. I knew it was an NVC. I didn’t say anything, out of fear. There in prison, they can do to us what they wish and [would have] tortured me again . . . I received the NVC without saying anything because I wanted to see my family.140 The man also described being tortured while imprisoned in Kyauk Pyu Prison, saying: “I was made to lay on the ground . . . There was a [soldier]. He punched my chest three times . . . He took a big rod and rolled it on my knees. I lost my control then. It was unbearable.”141 135 Human Rights Watch, “Myanmar: Security Forces Torture Rohingya Returnees,” August 21, 2018, https://www.hrw. org/news/2018/08/21/myanmar-security-forces-torture-rohingya-returnees (accessed August 23, 2019). 136 Some Rohingya refer to Nga Khu Ya transit point as “Nga Khu Ra.” 137 Fortify Rights interview with B.C., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, November 30, 2018. 138 Fortify Rights interview with F.B., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, June 16, 2019. 139 Ibid. 140 Fortify Rights interview with D.E., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, March 10, 2019. 141 IbId.