Summary
A mullah—an Islamic religious leader—who was present at the madrasa during the killings
told Fortify Rights:
When they came to attack us, I was inside the room in the madrasa. We did not
realize anything at first because all were deeply asleep as it was 4 a.m. when they
came to attack the madrasa. … Those who entered the madrasa had knives, sticks,
and guns. They entered the madrasa, fired their weapons, and killed the students
with gunshots. … Whoever got hit by a bullet, fell and died. Three teachers and
three students were killed.
A Rohingya man who witnessed the attack and whose relative was killed in the attack
told Fortify Rights: “I saw the men with knives, swords, sticks, and pistols in their hands.
… [The armed attackers] finished the killing mission, and I could see six dead bodies
slaughtered on the ground. … I saw [my relative’s] dead body. … I saw blood everywhere.”
During the October 2021 attack, the militants also beat and tortured Rohingya refugees
outside the madrasa in the refugee camp. For example, men believed to be members of
ARSA severed two fingers of a Rohingya man’s left hand. He told Fortify Rights: “They cut
off two of my fingers and hit me on my head, and they thought I was dead and left me.”
After the attack on the madrasa, Bangladesh police conducted security patrols in the
surrounding area. But the presence of the Bangladeshi police patrols did not stop ARSA
from continuing its threats. A survivor of the madrasa attack told Fortify Rights: “Even
now, [ARSA] have been threatening me, saying, ‘Eat well while you are with the police.
Once they are gone, you will be finished.’ I feel I may be killed at any moment.”
As this report’s title suggests, many Rohingya religious leaders, human rights defenders,
and others who oppose militant rule in the camps feel they “may be killed any moment.”
Killings by Rohingya militant groups take place with impunity in the camp, creating a
climate of fear for all camp residents. In addition to killings, this report documents
cases of torture, abduction, and other crimes by militant Rohingya groups operating in
Bangladesh—primarily ARSA and RSO.
In an especially horrific example, in October 2023, ARSA abducted, tortured, and
dismembered a 23-year-old Rohingya man, leaving him to die alone in the refugee
camps—but he survived.
“[T]hey cut off my leg first. I was able to hear the sound that they were cutting off the
bones of my leg with a big knife,” he told Fortify Rights. He continued:
I told [the armed men] “Please leave me, and I will give you whatever you demand.”
They replied to me, “We never leave you, and we will kill you because you always report
to NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and the authorities of Bangladesh against
us.” ... [The militants] took half an hour to cut me. My arm was cut just above my
elbows. I was admitted to the hospital in Chittagong [known officially as Chattogram].
Despite reports by media outlets, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Myanmar, and others about abuses committed by Rohingya militants in
Bangladesh’s refugee camps, the groups continue to publicly deny responsibility for any
wrongdoing. For example, in 2017, Atta Ullah abu Ammar Jununi, the commander-in-chief
of ARSA, said, “Atrocity, violence, and injustice against any innocent civilians is not in the
principles or policy of [ARSA].” ARSA has also denied responsibility for specific incidents
of violence in the camps in Bangladesh, including the killings of Rohingya human rights
defender and refugee community leader Mohib Ullah.
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