Eight Years On, No Justice for Disappearance of Rohingya Islamic Scholar

 The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government should promptly investigate the abduction and enforced disappearance of prominent Rohingya Islamic scholar Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil and other unresolved disappearances in the refugee camps, including those allegedly committed by Rohingya armed groups, and ensure effective remedies for victims and their families, Fortify Rights said today.

A powerful Rohingya armed group allegedly abducted Mufti Khalil from a refugee camp in Bangladesh on July 27, 2018, and his fate and whereabouts remain unknown. He was a principal author of a fatwa concluding that, under the circumstances prevailing at the time, armed resistance in Rakhine State was impermissible under Islam.

“Eight years is far too long for a family to wait without answers,” said John Quinley, Director at Fortify Rights. “The abduction of Islamic scholar Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil demonstrates how serious crimes committed in the refugee camps have too often gone uninvestigated, leaving victims, survivors, and their families without justice. Bangladesh should end the impunity surrounding this case and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

On July 27, 2018, at approximately 10:30 p.m., at least seven unidentified Rohingya men entered the shelter of Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil and his family in a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar District and forcibly took him from his home. At the time, he was performing the Isha Namaz prayer, the fifth and final daily prayer in Islam. Fortify Rights documented the abduction and published its findings in 2019.
 
“I saw him being taken away,” an eyewitness told Fortify Rights. “The men were wearing pants, unlike the neighbors who don’t wear pants at night but instead wear longyis [traditional clothing worn by men from Myanmar and Bangladesh]. I started feeling fearful. ... They were speaking the Rohingya language, not Bengali. Some of the men had masks on.”
 
Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil has not been seen since the group took him, and his family has no information about his fate or whereabouts.
 
Following Myanmar military-led attacks on Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State that began in late August 2017, Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil and his family fled to Bangladesh. He and other religious leaders subsequently drafted a fatwa against armed resistance in Rakhine State. Fortify Rights received and reviewed a copy of the fatwa written in Urdu and Arabic. More than 40 Islamic leaders endorsed the fatwa, which was finalized in October 2017. It stated that, under the circumstances prevailing at the time, armed violence against the Myanmar military in Rakhine State was impermissible under Islam. The fatwa urged self-preservation on the grounds that the Myanmar military would defeat an armed resistance effort and inflict further suffering on Rohingya civilians. The fatwa stated: “There are no governments in the world willing to support the Muslims of Arakan State [Rakhine State], to provide them arms to fight and military aid.” The summary concludes that, under the prevailing conditions, “armed struggle or jihad in [Rakhine State] would likely lead to the defeat of Muslims and place their lives, wealth, dignity, families, in grave danger.”

The disappeared Mufti's son, Mohammed Omar, told Fortify Rights in July 2026: “The abduction of my father has caused our family immense pain, suffering, and uncertainty for many years. We continue to live without knowing the full truth about what happened to him.” Mohammed Omar went on to say that the family had been denied closure, the opportunity to provide his father with a proper burial, and “justice for his disappearance.”
 
“My father chose to stand by his principles despite the risks he faced. He did not compromise his values or yield to fear, even when his religious rulings placed him in danger,” Mohammed Omar said. “We remain proud of his courage, integrity, and willingness to serve the greater good of his community.” In 2023, Mohammed Omar and his family were resettled from the refugee camps in Bangladesh to a third country. “I am thankful to Bangladesh and the U.N. [Refugee Agency] for providing protection.”
 
Rohingya refugees knowledgeable about the abduction told Fortify Rights the fatwa upset members of Arakan Rohingya Salavation Army (ARSA), as it was viewed as critical of ARSA’s armed actions in Myanmar. In March 2019, shortly after Fortify Rights published its findings on the abduction of Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil, ARSA denied any involvement. In a public statement, ARSA said: "ARSA denies the unsubstantiated, baseless damaging criminal accusations made by Fortify Rights."
 
ARSA has since been implicated in numerous killings and abductions of people perceived to be critical of the group, as well as other crimes against Rohingya people, said Fortify Rights. Fortify Rights and other organizations have documented numerous cases.
 
For decades, Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil and his family, like many Rohingya, frequently traveled between Myanmar and Bangladesh for religious studies, education, and medical treatment. These cross-border journeys were often necessary because Myanmar's authorities imposed severe restrictions on Rohingya access to education, healthcare, and other essential services. Until the Myanmar military's genocidal attacks in 2017, Mufti Khalil lived with his family in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar. For many years, he served as principal of Jamia Islamia Darul Ulum Miajampur, a madrasa in Maungdaw Township.
 
In Bangladesh, he studied at Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam, popularly known as Hathazari Madrasa in Chattogram, the second-largest city in Bangladesh, graduating in 1975. Hathazari Madrasa is a Qawmi institution. Hathazari Madrasa was among the religious institutions that endorsed the fatwa. The madrasa's fatwa department emphasized that armed jihad is permissible only under strict conditions, including the availability of sufficient weapons and other resources to fight, as well as the financial means to sustain such an effort.
 
Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil was locally prominent and well respected. A Rohingya refugee and religious leader (name withheld) who was a co-signatory of the fatwa and pupil of Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil told Fortify Rights in 2024:

I knew [Mufti] Abdullah personally. He was my teacher at [withheld] Madrasa, which is very famous in Maungdaw Township. We were friends, and I had known him for years. He was a very famous Muslim teacher in Arakan [Rakhine State]. I have known him since I was studying [in Rakhine State] in Burmese school. When I was studying Arabic, he was like a mentor.

Under international human rights law, Bangladesh has an obligation to respect and ensure the rights to life, liberty, and security of all persons within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, including refugees.
 
Bangladesh is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects the rights to life, liberty, and security of person and requires states to ensure an effective remedy for violations of Covenant rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights likewise recognizes the rights to life, liberty, and security of person and to an effective remedy. Bangladesh is also a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which upholds the right to life and requires states to prevent and punish torture. Article 32 of the Constitution of Bangladesh also provides: “No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.”
 
These protections apply to everyone within Bangladesh’s territory and subject to its jurisdiction, regardless of citizenship or refugee status.
 
Bangladesh’s human rights obligations require it to exercise due diligence to protect individuals against reasonably foreseeable threats to life and security posed by private persons and non-state groups. This includes taking appropriate measures to prevent abuses, effectively investigating alleged crimes, prosecuting those responsible where sufficient evidence exists, and providing victims with access to effective remedies.
 
The Government of Bangladesh and the U.N. Refugee Agency should provide protection and support to Rohingya survivors and relatives of those who have been abducted, killed, maimed, or threatened by Rohingya armed groups. This should include access to protective spaces, such as safe houses outside refugee camps, and, for those facing the most serious risks, consideration for third-country resettlement.
 
On March 18, 2025, Bangladeshi authorities announced the arrest of Ata Ullah—the commander-in-chief of ARSA, and several other alleged members of the group. The announcement came on the same day that Fortify Rights published its report “I May Be Killed Any Moment” in Dhaka, Bangladesh, focusing on abuses in the camps by Rohingya armed groups. Fortify Rights had provided the report findings to Bangladesh authorities in advance of its publication.
 
In the report, Fortify Rights documented how members of Rohingya armed groups killed, abducted, tortured, and threatened Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, acts that may amount to war crimes under international law. The report found “reasonable grounds” to believe that certain acts committed by armed groups in Bangladesh were sufficiently connected to the ongoing non-international armed conflict in Myanmar to constitute war crimes under international law.
 
In May 2026, the Fortify Rights Leadership Council called for ARSA leader Ata Ullah to face trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes committed against Rohingya civilians.
 
In July 2026, the Bangladesh government established a National Strategy Formulation Committee on Rohingya Affairs, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. The committee should prioritize the protection of Rohingya refugees from armed and criminal groups operating in the camps, including by addressing killings, abductions, torture, threats, and forced recruitment, said Fortify Rights.
 
Following the August 2024 ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the interim government at the time in Bangladesh established a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances to investigate allegations of state-linked enforced disappearances committed under her government and advance accountability for past abuses. Sheikh Hasina fled to India following her ouster. A Bangladeshi court subsequently convicted and sentenced her in absentia for crimes against humanity connected to the violent suppression of the 2024 protest movement.

“Even eight years on, Bangladesh authorities retain an obligation to investigate the abduction and disappearance of Mufti Mohammed Abdullah Khalil,” said John Quinley. “The BNP government should promptly, impartially, and effectively investigate crimes against Rohingya refugees, including abductions and disappearances, hold those responsible accountable, and ensure reparations for victims.”