Rohingya-led organizations and international human rights advocates have urged the International Criminal Court to seek an arrest warrant for Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army leader Ata Ullah over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The calls, issued May 21 by seven anonymous Rohingya groups and members of the Fortify Rights Leadership Council, come amid growing demands for accountability for abuses committed not only by the Myanmar military but also by armed groups operating within Rohingya communities.
“We, the undersigned Rohingya groups, who remain anonymous due to security concerns, urge the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek an arrest warrant for Ata Ullah, the leader of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), for his alleged role in serious international crimes committed in Myanmar and Bangladesh,” the Rohingya groups said in a statement.
The groups accused ARSA under Ata Ullah’s leadership of committing “killings, abductions, torture, and attacks against Rohingya civilians and other communities in northern Rakhine State and in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.”
The organizations withheld their identities, citing fears of reprisals.
Fortify Rights said the reluctance of some Rohingya groups to publicly identify themselves reflected continuing insecurity and intimidation faced by Rohingya civil society groups and activists in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
In a separate statement, members of the Fortify Rights Leadership Council said accountability efforts related to the Rohingya crisis must apply to all perpetrators, regardless of affiliation.
“The victims of ARSA abuses deserve justice no less than the victims of state crimes,” members of the council said.
The statement was signed by international legal experts, former diplomats, human rights advocates, and public figures, including Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, former lead prosecutor in the trial of former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević; former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack; Yale Law School Professor Jim Silk; and Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
Ata Ullah was arrested by Bangladeshi authorities on March 18, 2025, on national charges. However, Fortify Rights said there has been “no meaningful progress” toward prosecuting him for the broader range of alleged international crimes attributed to him and ARSA.
On the same day as Ata Ullah’s arrest, Fortify Rights released a 78-page report documenting alleged abuses by ARSA and other Rohingya armed groups in Myanmar and Bangladesh, including killings, torture, abductions, and reprisals against Rohingya civilians perceived to oppose ARSA.
The ICC has previously recognized its jurisdiction over certain crimes linked to the forced deportation of Rohingya into Bangladesh, despite Myanmar not being a party to the Rome Statute. The Rohingya groups and Fortify Rights said the court’s jurisdiction could also extend to crimes allegedly committed by non-state armed groups such as ARSA when elements of those crimes occurred in Bangladesh.
The Rohingya groups also urged the ICC to coordinate with Bangladesh should an arrest warrant be issued.
“Accountability is critical to achieving a durable solution to the Rohingya crisis, and failure to act risks further violence, instability, and continued denial of justice for victims and survivors,” the groups said.
