Female Nobel laureates in Bangladesh to meet Rohingya women

Three female Nobel Peace laureates have begun a week-long trip to Bangladesh to meet Rohingya women who say they were tortured and raped by Myanmar soldiers before fleeing the country.

During the trip that began Saturday, Iran's Shirin Ebadi, Yemen's Tawakkol Karman and Northern Ireland's Mairead Maguire will assess the Rohingya refugees' situation and the violence against the Rohingya women, according to the Nobel Women's Initiative, a platform of six female peace laureates established in 2006.

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In an email to The Associated Press, Karman said Saturday that they were standing "in solidarity with displaced Rohingya women and calling for Rohingya women's voices to be heard."

About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled army-led violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since August and are living in Bangladeshi refugee camps.