Arrest warrant issued for Myanmar firebrand monk Wirathu

Myanmar police issued an arrest warrant Tuesday evening for an ultra-nationalist monk known as the "Buddhist Bin Laden" for his vitriol against Islam and particularly the Rohingya Muslim community.

Wirathu has long been the face of the country's Buddhist nationalist movement, notorious for espousing hate against the Rohingya minority.

A warrant was "filed and applied directly at western district court against him (Wirathu) under article 124(a)," police spokesman Myo Thu Soe told AFP late on Tuesday.

He said he was unable to give specific details about the reasons behind the warrant.

The law prohibits anyone who "attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government" and carries a maximum jail sentence of three years.

Wirathu's monastery is in Mandalay but his whereabouts Tuesday or when he might be detained were unknown.

In 2013 the hardliner appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine as "The Face of Buddhist Terror".

He has ...