Bangladesh
Rohingya Leader Killed Rohingya leader Mohibullah shot dead
Dhaka, September 30: Mohibullah, a prominent Rohingya leader, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at around 8:30 pm on Wednesday (September 29) at Ukhia's Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar. Armed Police Battalion (8 APBN) Superintendent of Police (SP) Shihab Kaiser Khan said.
Witnesses said Mohibullah was sitting in his office in the camp after Isha prayers. At that moment, unknown assailants fired five rounds at him. Three bullets hit him in the chest. He was later taken to MSF Hospital where the on-duty doctor declared him dead. Mohibullah was chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights.
Mohibullah came to the limelight on 22 August 2019 by holding a general assembly in the Rohingya camp. Mohibullah was one of the 27 representatives of the minority community in 17 countries who met with former US President Donald Trump in July of that year and complained.
A number of foreign NGOs and individuals are said to be the reason behind the Rohingya's inability to return to their homeland. One of them is the top Rohingya leader Mohibullah, who rose to become a top Rohingya leader from an ordinary man.
It is learned that he fled to Bangladesh from Rakhine State of Myanmar in 1992. He had been living in the Teknaf area ever since. He later formed the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH) with 15 members. From that time on, he established contacts with Bangladeshi and foreign human rights activists. He has visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates more than once.
The situation changed after the Rohingya exodus in 2017. Mohibullah's rise to prominence began in 2018 when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) joined the Rohingya repatriation. Mohibullah's organization ARSPH started gaining prominence.
His fluency in the English language made him a confidant of foreigners and NGOs. In July 2018, RAB once arrested Mohibullah and took him to Ukhia police station. But he was released on the instructions of the administration.
Mohibullah and his associates were presented as Rohingya delegates with each of the foreign delegates who have visited the Rohingya camp, including the UN Secretary General.
Rohingyas who took refuge in Bangladesh held a mass rally at Kutupalong Extension-4 Rohingya Camp in Ukhia on the occasion of completing two years in 2019. Muhibullah and his organization organized a huge rally in just a few hours of preparation.
