An international representative of ethnic Rohingya refugees was shot to death in a camp in Bangladesh by unknown gunmen late on Wednesday, police said.
Mohibullah, who is in his 40s, was a teacher who emerged as a key refugee leader and a spokesman representing the Muslim ethnic group in international meetings. He visited the White House in 2019 for a meeting on religious freedom with then-President Donald Trump and spoke about the suffering and persecution faced by Rohingya in Myanmar.
That same year, he was bitterly criticised by Bangladeshi media after he led a massive rally of 2,00,000 refugees to mark the second anniversary of the crackdown by Myanmar’s military that caused about 7,00,000 Rohingya, including Mohibullah, to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
The unidentified attackers shot Mohibullah at the Kutupalong refugee camp at Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar district, said Naimul Haque, an commander of the Armed Police Battalion in Cox’s Bazar.
