Mohib ullah murder: Police press charges against 29 Rohingyas
His popularity among Rohingya community and stance against all kinds of crimes and irregularities inside the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar triggered the grisly murder of Mohib Ullah, said the charge sheet submitted after an eight-month investigation.
Implicating 29 Rohingyas in the murder, Ukhiya Police Station's Inspector (investigation) Gazi Salah Uddin placed the charge sheet in the much-talked case before a Cox's Bazar court yesterday.
"Of the 29 accused, 15 are behind bars while 14 are on the run. In the charge sheet, police also named 38 persons as witnesses," Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ukhiya Police Station Sheikh Mohammed Ali told this newspaper.
Four accused have already given confessional statements under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police Md Hasanuzzaman, said, "This is a sensitive issue. There are many groups active in the Rohingya camps. Many did not like his leadership. He had a lot of popularity and he had been a very strong voice for the camp dwellers.
"Infuriated by his work, one group carried out the assassination in a planned way."
Soon after the murder, Mohib's brother Habib Ullah alleged that Myanmar's band outfit Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa), locally known as Al-Yakin, was behind the killing.
The issue of Arsa's presence in the country has been widely discussed as Rohingyas and experts believe there are members of the insurgent group in the camps.
However, the government has always maintained that this group does not exist in Bangladesh and that some criminals might have falsely identified themselves as Arsa operatives to intimidate the refugees.
Asked about the involvement of Arsa, the SP said, "We wrote that members of an armed Rohingya terrorist group assassinated Mohib Ullah but we didn't mention the name of the group in the charge sheet."
But seeking anonymity, an official of Ukhiya Police Station told The Daily Star, "The name of Arsa is mentioned in several places in the charge sheet."
He, however, did not elaborate.
On March 6, Armed Police Battalion (APBn-14) of Cox's Bazar had arrested the chief commander of Arsa's Ulama Branch from a Rohingya camp on March 6. Police said the Arsa leader, identify as Zakaria, 55, issued a fatwa (decree) for the assassination of Mohib Ullah.
Mohib Ullah, the chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, was shot dead at the Kutupalong camp around 8:30pm on September 29 last year.
His brother Habib Ullah filed the case with Ukhiya Police Station the next day without accusing any individual.
A teacher-turned-rights-activist, Mohib Ullah came to Bangladesh in 2017 when about 700,000 refugees fled a violent crackdown by the Myanmar army.
He attained widespread recognition after a group led by him organised a huge rally in 2019.
Later that year, he was invited to Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council and to the White House, where he spoke with the then president Donald Trump as part of a meeting with survivors of persecution.
Eleven family members of Mohib Ullah have been moved to Canada on March 31 under the management of UNHCR and IOM.