Mohib Ullah, 46, Dies; Documented Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya

The NewYork Times

By Hannah Beech

Oct. 2, 2021

Shot dead by gunmen, he had compiled a list of those who perished in the hope that the data could be used as evidence in international courts.

Mohib Ullah in 2020 at a refugee camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh. Death threats had become part of his life.Credit...Munir Uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya community leader who believed in the power of data to confront the brutality of ethnic cleansing, died on Wednesday, shot by gunmen in a bamboo and tarp shelter in Kutupalong, Bangladesh, the world’s biggest refugee camp. He was 46.

The gunmen had burst into his shack before opening fire, according to his brother, Habib Ullah, who was with Mr. Mohib Ullah at the time. The shack was stacked high with papers documenting massacres of Rohingya, the Muslim minority native to neighboring Myanmar.

Rohingya Civil-Rights Leader Mohib Ullah Killed in Bangladesh

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Feliz Soloman
Sept. 30, 2021

Human-rights advocates call for investigation after he was shot dead in refugee camp 

A leader of the Rohingya Muslim community was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, prompting calls from rights advocates for an investigation.

Mohib Ullah, who his colleagues say was 48 years old, was among the most high-profile advocates for the Rohingya, a stateless minority from Myanmar that was targeted in a 2017 military offensive that forced more than 740,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. United Nations investigators have called for Myanmar army leaders to face genocide charges over the attacks.

Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah gunned down in Cox's Bazar

Dhaka Tribune  

UNB
September 29,2021

File photo: Mohib Ullah, a teacher turned rights activist, was one of the most high-profile advocates for the Rohingyas. He was invited to the White House and to speak to the UN Human Rights Council. Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

The incident took place at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya upazila

Rohingya leader Md Mohib Ullah has been shot to death by a group of unidentified miscreants in Cox’s Bazar.

Bangladesh: Investigate killing of prominent Rohingya activist Mohib Ullah

Amnesty International
September 30,2021

Responding to the killing of leading Rohingya activist Mohib Ullah, who was shot dead this evening in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Saad Hammadi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, said:

“Mohib Ullah was a leading representative of the Rohingya community, who spoke out against violence in the camps and in support of the human rights and protection of refugees. His killing sends a chilling effect across the entire community. The onus is now on the Bangladeshi authorities to expedite an investigation into his murder and bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials.

The Invisible Wounds of the Rohingya

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Ana Salvá
September 30, 2021

The situation in the refugee camps has worsened over the years, causing irreversible damage to the mental health of their inhabitants.


Zaifur Hussein, 50, managed to escape the fire that swept through the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in March, but he lost his home. While taking refuge with friends, Hussein witnessed dozens of people dying – and how the fences around the camps made it difficult to get out.

Hussein’s story was one of those shared by Reuters news agency in its coverage of the disaster. The March 2021 fire had a devastating effect on these camps, where more than a million refugees live in southern Bangladesh. Black smoke billowed over burning huts and tents as people scrambled to retrieve their possessions.

Rohingya community leader shot dead in Bangladesh refugee camp

REUTERS
By Ruma Paul and Poppy Mcpherson
September 29, 2021

Mohib Ullah, a leader of Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, talks on the phone in Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh April 7, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and killed a prominent Rohingya Muslim leader in a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Wednesday, a United Nations spokesperson and a local police official said, following months of worsening violence in the world's largest refugee settlement.

Mohib Ullah, who was in his late 40s, led one of the largest of several community groups to emerge since more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar after a military crackdown in August 2017.

Prominent Rohingya leader shot dead in Bangladesh refugee camp

Aljazeera
29 Sep 2021

Rights groups call for urgent investigation after Mohibullah shot dead outside his office.

Mohibullah, centre, formed the Rohingya group ARPSH in a Bangladeshi camp months after the influx hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing prosecution in Myanmar in 2017 [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

A prominent Rohingya Muslim leader has been shot dead in a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh.

Mohibullah, who was in his late 40s, led one of the largest of several community groups to emerge since more than 730,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled Myanmar amid a brutal military crackdown in August 2017. 

Prominent Rohingya leader shot dead in Bangladesh refugee camp

The Guardian
Rebecca Ratcliffe
agencies in Cox's Bazar
Thu 30 Sep 2021

Calls for an investigation after Mohib Ullah was killed by unidentified assailants 

Mohib Ullah was chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARPSH). The UNHCR said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by his killing. Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Imag

Rights groups have called for an urgent investigation after a prominent Rohingya community leader was shot dead at a refugee camp in Bangladesh, after months of worsening violence in the settlement.

Mohib Ullah, who was chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARPSH), was killed by gunmen on Wednesday evening as he spoke with other community leaders outside his office, according to police.

Duterte says PH willing to aid Afghan, Rohingya refugees

PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY
By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos
September 22, 2021

 

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte vowed Wednesday that the Philippines is willing to extend assistance to Afghan and Rohingya refugees.

While the Philippines has limited resources, it will do its best to “uplift human dignity,” Duterte said in a prerecorded speech delivered during the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

“The imposition of one’s will over another -- no matter how noble the intent -- has never worked in the past. And it never will in the future,” Duterte said.

China special envoy makes unannounced Myanmar visit

Frontier Myanmar

By AFP
SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

United Wa State Army leader Bao Youxiang (L) and China's Foreign Ministry's special envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang watch a military parade, to commemorate 30 years of a ceasefire signed with the Myanmar military in the Wa State, in Panghsang on April 17, 2019. (AFP)

China’s special envoy for Asian affairs has wrapped an unannounced, week-long visit to Myanmar that included discussions with its junta leader on the country’s political future, Beijing said on August 31.

Myanmar has been in political chaos since the military ousted the civilian government in February, launching a bloody crackdown on dissent.

International efforts to stem the violence have failed to yield results, with the European Union accusing junta allies Russia and China of blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo.

Arakan Army Seeks to Build ‘Inclusive’ Administration in Rakhine State

THE I DIPLOMAT
Kyaw Hsan Hlaing
August 31, 2021

The armed group’s decision to include Muslim Rohingya representatives in local administration marks a sharp break with a succession of central governments.

Seven months since the military coup in Myanmar, the political wing of the rebel Arakan Army (AA) has significantly expanded its administrative and judicial mechanisms across Rakhine State in western Myanmar, with hundreds of its personnel now effectively administering the region independently of the military junta that rules in Naypyidaw. The group is also attempting to involve the state’s entire population, including the Rohingya Muslims, in the governance of what it hopes will become an autonomous Rakhine State.

On April 11, 2020, the 11th anniversary of the formation of the AA, Gen. Maj. Twan Mrat Naing, the army’s commander-in-chief, outlined the concept of the “way of Rakhita,” which he described as “the struggle for national liberation and the restoration of Arakan’s sovereignty to the people of Arakan.” This refers to the restoration of the independent Arakan kingdom that ruled significant parts of western Myanmar until 1824, when it was conquered by the Burmese kingdom based in Mandalay.

Four Years After Massacres and Purge, Sympathy for the Rohingya Grows in Myanmar

Radio Free Asia
2021-08-25

Many now see the Myanmar military, which has killed over a thousand protesters and other civilians since the Feb. 1 coup, as a common enemy.

Rohingya refugees walk along a path at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh, Aug. 25, 2021.

AFP

Four years after the Myanmar military attacked ethnic Rohingya communities in the country’s western Rakhine state, burning villages, killing residents, and driving hundreds of thousands as refugees across the border with Bangladesh, sympathy has grown for the Muslim minority, sources in the country say.

The military’s 2017 scorched earth campaign launched in response to attacks by Muslim insurgents against police posts in Rakhine, has since been described by international rights groups and foreign governments as constituting acts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.”

Bangladesh: Fleeing Rohingya Die at Sea

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

 

 August 24, 2021

UN Shouldn’t Operate on Bhasan Char Until Free Movement Assured

Fencing encloses the Rohingya refugee camp on the island of Bhasan Char, off the coast of Bangladesh. © 2021 Private

(New York) – A fishing boat carrying more than 40 Rohingya refugees, including children, fleeing Bangladesh’s remote Bhasan Char island capsized on August 14, 2021, in the Bay of Bengal, leaving at least 11 dead, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Bangladesh government should permit Rohingya refugees to leave Bhasan Char so they can safely reunite with their families at the refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar. The government, which is reportedly finalizing plans with the United Nations to start operations on the island, should make the safety and protection of the refugees a priority, including by allowing them freedom of movement to return to Cox’s Bazar.

Vaccination at Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps begins tomorrow

The Daily Star
Star Digital Report
Mon Aug 9, 2021 

Rohingya refugee children at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar. File photo: Reuters

Covid-19 vaccination campaign for Rohingyas in the refugee camps of Cox's Bazar will begin tomorrow, reports our local correspondent quoting the district's civil surgeon.

Md Mahbubur Rahman, Cox's Bazar district civil surgeon, told The Daily Star that the vaccination campaign will begin 11am tomorrow at the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar. Syed Rezwan Hayat, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), will accompany him.

Citizenship of the Rohingya in Myanmar: A historical account

The Daily Star
Md Khalid Rahman
Tue Aug 24, 2021

While the international stakeholders and the Government of Bangladesh have tried for their safe and dignified voluntary return of the Rohingya refugees as per the agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, the citizenship issue became one of the crucial contesting conditions. Unfortunately, no government of Myanmar, after the mischievous power-grabbing of the then Burma by the military government led by General Ne Win has responded positively to the citizenship issue of the Rohingya. The present article argues that the citizenship crisis is rooted in the British colonial era that consequently gained momentum through the political demarcation and marginalisation of different ethnicity including Rohingya.

Rohingya woman recounts abuse by Myanmar junta in court

DAILY SABAH
ANADOLU AGENCY
DHAKA ASIA PACIFIC
AUG 19, 2021

A young Rohingya refugee boy stands outside a tent at a refugee camp alongside the banks of the Yamuna River in the southeastern borders of New Delhi, India, July 1, 2021. (AP Photo)

Testifying before a court in Argentina a Rohingya woman described the Myanmar military's genocide, painting a startling picture of the abuse suffered in Rakhine state, a rights body for the minority confirmed Wednesday.

The eyewitness, whose identity has been withheld for security reasons, is one of six Rohingya women treated inhumanely by the Myanmar military in their home country and are now living in cramped Bangladeshi camps. She virtually narrated her ordeal on Tuesday at the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Buenos Aires, the Argentinian capital.

The Rohingya genocide has been separated into two phases, the first of which was a military campaign from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second of which has been ongoing since August 2017.

Myanmar Army Probe: Rohingyas to testify before Argentina court

The Daily Star

Afp, Yangon

Wed Aug 18, 2021 

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown were set to testify in a court in Argentina for the first time yesterday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

The witnesses will testify remotely to a court in Argentina, which is considering invoking the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to bring a case against Myanmar's leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Bangladesh Recovers Refugees' Bodies From Sunken Rohingya Boat

RFA
Radio Free Asia
2021-08-18

Roh Sana Ullah, 35, lies in a room after being rescued a day earlier from a boat that sank in the Bay of Bengal, Aug. 15, 2021.

AP

Bangladeshi authorities said Wednesday they had recovered the bodies of 11 Rohingya who drowned in the Bay of Bengal after their boat capsized in bad weather as they tried to escape from an island housing refugees over the weekend.

A search was going on for 15 other Rohingya still missing from the boat after it sank off Bhashan Char Island on Saturday, said Lt. M. Abdur Rauf, a Coast Guard public relations officer. Twelve others were rescued by local fishermen, who brought the survivors back to the island later that day.

“Seven bodies including six minors were recovered from the Chittagong part of the sea on Tuesday while four other bodies were recovered two days earlier,” Abdur Rauf told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, adding he did not know when joint rescue efforts by the Coast Guard, Navy, and police would end or if they would be changed to a recovery mission.

Rohingya women testify in Argentina court on ‘brutal massacre in Rakhine state’

The Daily Star
Wed Aug 18, 2021

Rohingya refugee girls are seen at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh. Photo: Anisur Rahman/ Star file

In a historic development, Rohingya women have described how the Myanmar military carried out a brutal massacre in their village, in an Argentinean court of law, under the aegis of universal jurisdiction.

Speaking remotely to the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Buenos Aires from Cox's Bazar on Tuesday, the women told how soldiers killed their husbands in Chuk Pyin, Rakhine, Myanmar, according to a statement from the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

Argentine Court: Rohingyas testify about the horrors they faced

The Daily Star
Diplomatic Correspondent
Thu Aug 19, 2021 

In a historic development for Myanmar, Rohingya women have described in an Argentine court of law, under the aegis of universal jurisdiction, how the Myanmar military carried out a brutal massacre in their village.

Speaking remotely to the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Bueno Aires from the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on Tuesday, the women spoke of how soldiers killed their husbands in Chuk Pyin of Myanmar's Rakhine, according to a statement from the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

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They said soldiers killed hundreds of people, while some women were raped before being killed. The soldiers went on to rape many other women in their village and then burned their homes to the ground.