Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi () is the leader of the

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA; ), formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin (), is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group, it is led by ...

(ARSA), a

Rohingya The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Ro ...

insurgent group active in northern

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

. Ataullah appears in several videos released online by ARSA, where he gives press statements and speeches.

Early life

Ataullah was born in

Karachi, Pakistan Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

to a migrant family which had fled the

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

sometime during the 1960s. At an early age, Ataullah's family moved to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, where he was enrolled in an

Islamic school Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

. In his later years in Mecca, Ataullah served as an

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

to the Rohingya

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

community of around 150,000.

Insurgency

The

International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, conducting research and analysis on global crises. ...

(ICG) said in a report that it interviewed members of Jununi's group. The ICG reported that the leader of the group has close links with Saudi Arabia. The ICG report released in December 2016 states that he left Saudi Arabia in 2012, shortly after religiously motivated violence erupted in

. A

Myanmar government Myanmar ( formerly Burma) () operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. Po ...

press release claims that Jununi spent six months training in modern

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

under the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The ICG report stated that, although not confirmed, there are indications he went to Pakistan, and possibly elsewhere, and that he received practical training in modern guerrilla warfare. Several members of the group also stated to ICG that he may have received additional training in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

before his return to Rakhine State, but this remains unconfirmed. On 9 October 2016, Jununi led hundreds of ARSA insurgents to the

Bangladesh–Myanmar border The Bangladesh–Myanmar border is the international border between the countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly ''Burma''). The border stretches , from the tripoint with India in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. About of the bor ...

, where they attacked Burmese border police posts. A week later, Jununi appeared in a video online, claiming responsibility for the attacks. Jununi led a second large-scale attack on 25 August 2017, which resulted in the deaths of 71 people. ARSA was blamed for the Kha Maung Seik massacre (the killings of 99

Bengali Hindus Bengali Hindus () are adherents of Hinduism who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. They make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Assam's Barak Valle ...

) that occurred on the same day, a charge Jununi denied. Jununi's half-brother, Muhammad Shah Ali, a member of ARSA, was arrested by the

Armed Police Battalion The Armed Police Battalion is a specialised combat unit of the Bangladesh Police. It is headquartered in Dhaka. The unit has 11 battalions under its command and the Special Security and Protection Battalion has two battalions. Airport Armed Pol ...

on 16 January 2022 in a camp near

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and Cox's Bazar District, district headquarters in south-eastern Bangladesh. Cox's Bazar Beach, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangladesh, is the longest uninterrupte ...

while carrying arms and drugs. After his half-brother was arrested, Jununi was interviewed by Bangladeshi news channel, Jamuna TV in February 2022.

Bangladesh Police The Bangladesh Police () is the national law enforcement agency of Bangladesh, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs (Bangladesh), Ministry of Home Affairs. It plays a crucial role in maintaining peace, and enforcement of law and order with ...

accused Jununi in an investigative report submitted in June 2022 of ordering the murder of Mohib Ullah because he feared the popularity of Ullah and his organization, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, would impede ARSA's operations. The police also accused Jununi of demanding that Ullah shutdown his organization and join ARSA, but Ullah refused.

Arrest

On 18 March 2025, Jununi was arrested by Bangladesh's

Rapid Action Battalion Rapid Action Battalion (; abbreviated as RAB) is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police. This elite force consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, Bangladesh Police, Border Guard ...

Narayanganj Narayanganj () is a city in central Bangladesh in the Greater Dhaka area. It is in the Narayanganj District, about southeast of the capital city of Dhaka. With a population of almost 1 million, it is the 6th largest city in Bangladesh. It is als ...

References

Bangladeshi prisoners and detainees Living people Pakistani people of Rohingya descent People from Karachi Rohingya people Year of birth missing (living people) 1960s births {{Pakistan-bio-stub