Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani has been receiving death threats following the circulation of fake social media posts linked to him.
The president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Merhrom) has been forced to deactivate his Facebook due to the threats and verbal abuse.
The fake posts quoted him as calling the Malays “stupid”, demanding equal rights and Malaysian citizenship for Rohingya refugees.
He was also accused of questioning Malaysian authorities over their refusal to accept boats ferrying Rohingya refugees.
"Due to these false allegations, I received criticism and even death threats via phone calls, Watsapp and Facebook.
"Merhrom's effort to help refugees during the MCO (movement control order) has been halted due to this security issue," he added in a statement.
He thanked the Malaysian government and NGOs for highlighting Myanmar's cruelty towards the Rohingya people/
He also apologised if the remarks by some of the refugees had hurt the feelings of the locals.
Zafar's statement garnered more than 19,000 comments but despite his clarification and apology, most of them were critical and abusive.
The issue arose after authorities on April 16 prevented boats with Rohingya refugees from landing on its shores, igniting mixed reaction from the public and civil society, - Mkini
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