“I May Be Killed Any Moment” 27 On October 9, 2021, during a visit to the location of Mohib Ullah’s assassination, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told reporters that the government would “take stern action against those who were involved in the killing,” adding, “No one will be spared.”64 However, the Government of Bangladesh continued to deny ARSA’s existence in the camps, let alone implicate the militant group in the killing of Mohib Ullah.65 Although ARSA leader Ata Ullah denied the armed group’s involvement in the killing, a former high-ranking ARSA commander told Fortify Rights that ARSA leaders had discussed assassinating Mohib Ullah during the commander’s tenure at ARSA.66 According to the commander, senior ARSA commanders discussed an assassination plan in 2019 to be carried out after Mohib Ullah returned to Bangladesh from a highly publicized meeting with then-U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C. He said: Mr. Mohib Ullah went to the United States and when he came back, there was a discussion [among ARSA leaders] to kill Mohib Ullah. There [in the meeting], I told [the ARSA commanders] that if you kill him, then you will kill the entire Rohingya community. … [I asked], “Why are you doing this?” They said, “Mohib Ullah is destroying [ARSA].” They tried their best to bring me under their control [to convince me to kill him], but their efforts were in vain.67 The former ARSA commander said he left the group some months later. He has since faced his own death threats from ARSA.68 After visiting the site of the assassination at the ARSPH offices in Cox’s Bazar in December 2021, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews referenced ARSA’s likely role in the killing, saying: “I visited his office and stood in the very spot where he was murdered. ... I have received credible reports that members of ARSA have killed, tortured, abducted, and threatened Rohingya refugees.”69 Although the Government of Bangladesh recommitted itself to investigating the killing after a visit to ARSPH’s offices by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews on December 2021, it was not until the day before the March 2022 publication of the U.N. Special Rapporteur’s report to the U.N. Human Rights Council that the Government of Bangladesh publicly acknowledged the existence of ARSA and ARSA’s potential involvement in Mohib Ullah’s assassination.70 That month, Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion (APBn) arrested Zokoria, a leading member of ARSA’s Ulama Council—an associate religious body of ARSA—on the charge of issuing a fatwa for 64 “Bangladesh Vows ‘Stern Action’ Against Killers of Rohingya Leader,” Reuters, October 2, 2021, https://www.reuters. com/world/asia-pacific/bangladesh-vows-stern-action-against-killers-rohingya-leader-2021-10-02/. 65 For example, an APBn official told Daily Star in November 2021, “There is no ARSA presence in the camps. Those who say otherwise should be identified. It’s a blatant lie. They have an evil agenda to portray the Rohingyas as criminals.” Mohammad Al-Masum Molla, “ARSA Presence at Rohingya Camps: Everybody Knows Few Dare Speak,” Daily Star, November 20, 2021, https://www.thedailystar.net/rohingya-influx/news/arsa-presence-rohingya-campseverybody-knows-few-dare-speak-2233966. 66 In an October 2021 video message, Ata Ullah said: “ARSA wants Rohingya repatriation and Mohib Ullah wanted the same. So Rohingya can return to Arakan with their rights. This is the policy of ARSA too. So, there shouldn’t be any question if ARSA killed [Mohib Ullah]. “Abu Ammar Jununi Message to Who Killed Mr Muhib Ullah,” YouTube, October 11, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVjygkNZx2I. 67 Fortify Rights interview with C.Z., Bangladesh, October 10, 2021. 68 Ibid. 69 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “Mission to Bangladesh 13-19 December 2021,” End of Mission Statement, December 2021, https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/03/mission-bangladesh-13-19december-2021. 70 Ibid. See, “Insurgents Murdered Rohingya Leader,” The Daily Star, March 16, 2022, https://www.thedailystar.net/news/ bangladesh/crime-justice/news/insurgents-murdered-rohingya-leader-2984026;