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ARSA killed Rohingya leader Mohibullah in 2021: Police |
Master
Mohibullah, the 48-year-old Rohingya leader, was one of the most
prominent advocates for the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. Arakan
Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) shot dead Mohibullah at his office at
the Kutupalong camp in Ukhiya on September 29 in 2021, to stop refugee
repatriation, according to police.
Mohibullah was known as a moderate who advocated for the Rohingya to return to Myanmar with rights they were previously denied during decades of persecution. He was the leader of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), which was founded in 2017 to document atrocities against Rohingya in their native Myanmar and give them a voice in international talks about their future. He had also represented the Rohingya community at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2019. Cox's Bazar Public Prosecutor Faridul Alam said the investigators echoed the family's claim that ARSA planned and carried out the killing of Mohibullah. "ARSA and others against repatriation were angry at Mohibullah because of his popularity," he said, citing the charges. Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, the biggest of their kind in the world, have been roiled by gunfights and clashes on many occasions. Police described most of these incidents as robbery or smuggling cases. The sprawling camps have become increasingly violent, residents say, with armed men vying for power, kidnapping critics, and warning women against breaking conservative Islamic norms. More than a million Rohingya live in the camps, the vast majority having fled neighbouring Myanmar during a military crackdown in 2017 that the United Nations has said was carried out with genocidal intent. Myanmar denies genocide, saying it was waging a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts. Mohibullah came to prominence after going hut to hut in the camps collecting evidence of abuses against Rohingya in Myanmar, including mass killings and gang rapes, that has been shared with international investigators. He spoke at the White House and UN Human Rights Council, asking for Rohingya to be given more of a voice in their future. Diplomats and UN officials, earlier said, "Elevated Mohibullah as a moderate Rohingya leader and when he was receiving death threats no one was there to offer him protection." |