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Rohingya in Bangladesh camps fear police and ARSA | Rohingya News

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Rohingya refugees living in large camps near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh say they have been caught in the midst of alleged police “cruelty” and violence by an armed group with community members.

Security forces in Bangladesh launched a crackdown on Mohibullah, a prominent Rohingya activist who was shot dead in late September at his office in the Kutupalong refugee camp.

Following Mohibullah’s assassination, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen pledged to take “strict measures” against the attackers, saying “no one will be saved”. More than 170 Rohingya have been arrested so far as part of the crackdown.

Refugees say the killing of Mohibullah has become an excuse to be treated aggressively by Bangladeshi forces because they have been accused of blackmail, extortion, violence and even sexual assault.

Al Jazeera has spoken to some refugees about the allegations.

Ahmed * said he saw armed workers asking a woman to “remove the niqab (veil).”

In another case, he said he saw an upset woman shouting at a checkpoint.

“When I asked him the reason, he said the police used security reasons to touch his private parts,” he said.

He said the increased security measures after Mohibullah’s death have made almost all the Rohingya in the camp suspicious.

“Ninety-nine percent of refugees are not bad, but they treat us as if we are all the same.”

Hussein *, an Al Jazeera refugee who spoke to another refugee, listed at least eight extortion incidents for security forces ranging from at least 700 taka from Bangladesh ($ 8) and 2,000 taka ($ 23), provided by refugees to return mobile phones.

He also said he was asked about new phone numbers on his contact list.

“They will check our WhatsApp, Facebook, email, messenger. If they find foreign relations, they accuse us of selling information and working with terrorists. If we don’t give them the money, they will take us to the police station. They treat us less than animals, ”he said.

He said the checkpoints in the camps remind him that he is under the savage military rule of Myanmar. “The police have no humanity or compassion. When a person needs help, all they ask for is money. ”

Naimal Huq, the head of the Bangladesh Armed Police Battalion, dismissed the allegations of blackmail and extortion.

“We have not received any such information from anyone, there is nothing about this in the camp. The police are carrying out their usual duties and investigative processes, ”he told Al Jazeera.

“Some illegal activities are being carried out in the camp area, such as kidnappings and narcotics, so the police are only arresting these types of people.”

Police said of allegations of sexual harassment against Rohingya women, “This is completely false. We have no such report in our country.”

Consequences of the murder of Mohibullah

Mohibullah, 46, was a former science teacher who fled 750,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh in August 2017. The Myanmar army fled 750,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh in August 2017 to head the Rohingya Association of Peace and Human Rights, which created the violent Myanmar military attack.

Locals say his nonviolent attempts to secure the repatriation of refugees clashed with the focus of the armed conflict in which the Arakan Rohingya Rescue Army (ARSA) accuses Mohibullah’s family of killing him.

ARSA, formerly known as Harakatul Yakeen, was first created in October 2016. He says he is fighting for more than a million Rohingya who have been denied basic rights, including citizenship.

Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor of SOAS Global Thought, told Al Jazeera: “Mohibullah was the victim of a struggle for survival. It was specifically aimed at dominating civil rights leadership and moving away from peaceful dialogue and social consensus.”

An anonymous Rohingya man told those who did not support Al Jazeera Mohibullah that he was “envious” and killed him “because he refused to join ARSA”.

But he said Mohibullah’s loss has now frustrated the hope of freedom for those who felt hopeful after his 2019 meeting with US President Donald Trump. “It’s a huge question for the whole community. Everyone’s hopes were dashed by the ARSA killers. “

Bangladeshi authorities have told Al Jazeera that so far nine people have been arrested in connection with the murder. It was not confirmed whether these people were members of ARSA.

Human Rights Watch South Asian director Meenakshi Ganguly admits that Mohibullah’s death will be detrimental to the Rohingya struggle.

“The Rohingya community needs the leadership of civil society to speak out for their rights. Mohibullah had previously spoken in Geneva at the UN and traveled to the US. It is a sad loss for the refugee community to lose such an effective voice, ”Al Jazeera said.

Between a rock and a hard place

Mohibullah’s assassination has also caused a changing and unsafe climate in the camps, and has increased security measures after seven people were killed in an Islamic seminary a few days after the Rohingya leader was shot dead.

More violence erupted last week when Mohammad Hashim, a police officer suspected of being a member of ARSA, was found dead after an alleged mafia attack by a group of opponents.

Rohingya refugees have said they are suffering the dire consequences of an investigation into the murder of Mohibullah and the killing of Bangladeshi officials.

On the one hand, they fear that the event will serve as a warning of what might happen to those who speak. On the other hand, the killings are said to give some Bangladeshi forces an excuse to exploit the situation with acts of blackmail, extortion, violence and sexual abuse.

Jabir * told Al Jazeera that police accused him of “having terrorist relationships” and using his phone to send information to ARSA because stories about the group appeared on his Facebook feed.

Jabir said he was taken home and told to pay there or add him to the list of suspects and make an arrest.

“I was scared. We never hear what happens to people who are arrested. But they took a picture of me and told me not to talk to anyone about it, ”he told Al Jazeera.

Omran * said security personnel were using Bluetooth to send photos of ARSA members to rohingya phones being examined at checkpoints.

“They wanted to create a fake case to ask for money. And if I don’t give in, I can become a suspect in the murder of Mohibullah, ”he told Al Jazeera.

Local Rohingya journalist Saiful Arakani told Al Jazeera that “the rohingya is creating a dangerous situation for innocent people” in the camps.

Saiful Arkani journalist Rohingya (right) with camera operator brother Mohammad Aziz [Courtesy of Saiful Arakani]

The 25-year-old journalist said he was secretly interviewed by Mohibullah’s brother after he was threatened with death by ARSA.

“When the Rohingya are threatened with police arrest, they run away from their shelter and look for a place to hide. If they can’t find it, they join ARSA. ‘

UNHCR spokeswoman Catherine Stubberfield told Al Jazeera that it “does not publicly comment on individual cases for reasons of confidentiality and protection,” but “urges the Bangladeshi authorities to take immediate and effective action to improve security in refugee camps.”

ARSA denounced the violence in a video statement watched by Al Jazeera, saying that a woman had killed her husband by gang members.

“My daughter and I tried to stop her, but they mercilessly beat me and then took her away,” she says in the video.

One Rohingya man said the hidden nature of ARSA members makes it “very difficult” to calculate the size of the group. He said it is “very large” and has financial support from “Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Australia”.

But he said people in the camp are afraid to talk about incidents related to them, “because the person sitting next to you may be a member of ARSA.”

“We can’t trust anyone; we cannot rise up against them, for we do not know who is with them in the camp. They could come at night by covering their faces and get us out of the shelter and kill us. So we remain silent, ”he said.

But he agreed with journalist Arakani that police had threatened to arrest innocent Rohingya in the rise of ARSA camps.

* Some people’s names have been changed to protect their identity



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