Bob Geldof is to hand back his Freedom of the City of Dublin in protest at Aung San Suu Kyi holding the same accolade while Burma carries out what he called "ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingya.
The Live Aid founder and musician blasted the Burmese Nobel peace laureate, saying she was a "handmaiden to genocide" whose association with the capital "shames us all".
Ms Suu Kyi, Burma's civilian leader,
In a statement Mr Geldof said he would hand the award back at City Hall on Monday morning, while while he was a "proud Dubliner" he did not want the ceremonial title while Ms Suu Kyi also held it.
He said: "Her association with our city shames us all and we should have no truck with it, even by default. We honored her, now she appals and shames us.
"Rohingya people of north-west Burma.
"I am a founding patron of The Aegis Trust, who is concerned with genocide prevention and studies. Its founders built and maintain the National Holocaust Museum of the UK.
"I spoke at the inaugural National Holocaust Memorial Day at Westminster and in my time, I have walked amongst peoples who were sectionally targeted with ethnic cleansing.
"I want to be a hypocrite now that I have shared a murder, complicit in ethnic cleansing and a handmaiden to genocide."
More than 600,000 of the minority groups have fled the northern Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh to avoid violence between Burmese security forces and rebels since August, leading to a major humanitarian crisis. There have been accusations of smoking against civilians by the army.
The Buddhist majority in Burma, also known as Myanmar, regard the Rohingya as foreign immigrants rather than Burmese.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 "has her acknowledged the criticism. However both she and Burma's military have denied accusations of "ethnic cleansing", with the army blaming the violence against civilians on rebels.
Last month she called for national unity, saying efforts were made to stem the humanitarian crisis in the makeshift refugee camps strung along the border with Bangladesh.
Press Association
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