Thailand-based human rights group Fortify Rights in a report said that Rohingya armed groups killed at least 219 Rohingyas in the camps in Bangladesh in four years between 2021 and 2024 as killings, abductions, torture and threats continue to plague the refugees sheltered in the Bangladesh camps.
Of the killings, 22 were perpetrated in 2021, 42 in 2022, at least 90 in 2023 and at least 65 in 2024, according to the Fortify Rights report published on Tuesday at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
One of the victims, Mohammad Faisal, a beloved teacher, father, poet and genocide survivor, was abducted and shot dead by unidentified Rohingya armed people on January 4, 2024 from the Camp 4 extension between 7:00pm and 8:00pm.
At the time of his death Mohammad Faisal was assisting the Bangladesh authorities in investigating crimes in the camp, according to the report.
Fortify Rights said that it had interviewed 116 individuals, including Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh, Rohingya civilians in Rakhine state, Rohingya armed groups, United Nations officials, humanitarian workers and others about the ongoing violence by Rohingya-led armed groups in Bangladesh between September 2021 and November 2024.
Rohingya armed groups operating in Bangladesh鈥攑rimarily Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation are two rival groups鈥攈ave both carried out killings, the report said.
In another incident on October 22, 2021, in the middle of the night, armed Rohingyas, identified in an internal Bangladesh intelligence report as ARSA members, killed six men and tortured others in a madrassah in Camp 18 at Balukhali in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, the report added.
A survivor of the attack told Fortify Rights 鈥楨ven now, [ARSA] has been threatening me, saying, 鈥淓at well while you are with the police. Once they are gone, you will be finished鈥�.鈥�
鈥業 fear I may be killed any moment,鈥� he said.
Fortify Rights director John Quinley said that Rohingya armed groups were wreaking havoc both in Bangladesh and Myanmar with near complete impunity.
鈥榃ar crimes are usually committed within the immediate theatre of armed conflict, but in case, specific crimes in Bangladesh are directly connected to the war in Myanmar and constitute war crimes. Bangladesh interim government should cooperate with international justice mechanisms to investigate crimes and bring potential war criminals to justice,鈥� said John.
The recent United States government funding cuts are creating more space for Rohingya armed groups in the camps, which will significantly worsen the security of the Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh, according to Fortify Rights.
Mizanur Rahman, top official at the office of the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, said that there was nothing to hide about the killings as Rohingya armed groups were perpetrating them.
Currently, about 12 lakh people live in camps in Bangladesh and the number of killings is not that high considering the number of the stateless people and high population density of the Rohingya settlements, he added.
He, however, claimed that such killings came down due to the coordinated efforts of the Bangladesh authorities.
Moderated by freelance journalist Tanbirul Miraz Ripon, Fortify Rights senior advocacy specialist Patrick Phongsathron and North South University political science professor Navine Murshid also spoke, among others, at the report publishing event.