C T Online Desk: A Cox’s Bazar court on Sunday charged 29 Rohingyas, including suspected members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, with the murder of top Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah at Cox’s Bazar camp in 2021.
Cox’s Bazar district and sessions judge Mohammad Ismail also fixed October 11 for the formal commencement of the trial with the recording of the depositions of prosecution witnesses.
Public prosecutor Faridul Alam said that the prosecution named 38 people as witnesses in the case.
The 29 accused are Mohammad Salim, Shaukat Ulla, Mohammad Salam, Ziaur Rahman, Md Elias, Md Azizul Haque, Morshed alias Murshid, Nur Mohammad, Anas, Nazim Uddin, Abul Kalam alias Abu, Hamid Hossain, Sirajul Mostafa alias Sirajullah alias Siraj, Moulavi Md Zakoria, Khairul Amin, Master Abdur Rahim alias Rakim, Zahid Hossain alias Lalu, Faiz Ullah, Samir Uddin aka Sami Uddin alias Nur Kamal, Saleh Ahmad, Mozammel alias Lal Badia, Tofail, Master Shafi Alam, Abdus Salam alias Zaker Murabbi, Zokir, Hafez Ayach, Master Kashim, Master Shukkur Alam and Mostafa Kamal.
Of the 29 accused, 15 were produced before the court during the framing of the charges while the remaining 14 were still in hiding.
On September 29, 2021, Mohib Ullah, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, was shot dead by a group of armed people at his office at the Lambasia camp in Ukhiya.
Mohib Ullah’s younger brother, Habib Ullah, filed a murder case the following day.
Known as Master among the Rohingyas, Mohib Ullah was one of the top campaigners for their repatriation to Myanmar.
Mohib Ullah came to the limelight as a leader after holding a large assembly of Rohingya people on August 25, 2019, on the second anniversary of the start of the Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh from the Rakhine state of Myanmar.
He travelled to Geneva in 2019 to address the United Nations Human Rights Council about the plight of the Rohingyas.
His killing triggered a spat of violence in the Rohingya camp.
The investigation officer of the murder case and Ukhiya police inspector (investigating) Gazi Salauddin submitted the charges against the 29 Rohingyas in the case on June 13, 2022.
The police earlier said that a total of 36 people were found to be involved at different stages of the murder adding that seven people were yet to be identified.
According to the charge sheet, seven of the arrested Rohingyas confessed to their involvement in the murder of Mohib Ullah.
The charge sheet said that all the accused are Rohingyas and suspected members of an armed gang.
Mohib Ullah’s family and Rohingya blamed ARSA for the murder.
Bangladesh does not officially recognise the presence of ARSA on its soil.
According to the charges, an arrested accused called Mohib Ullah to the ARSPH office to discuss Rohingya repatriation issues and informed other members of the armed gang who gunned him down.
The charges said that armed groups were aggrieved over Mohib Ullah’s leadership and popularity and murdered him to take over the helm of leadership in the camps.
Mohib Ullah’s family was relocated to Canada in April amid growing concerns about their safety in the refugee settlement.
