Iraqi citizen Zafar Musa Abu Moaz, director of RIHS run kidney dialysis centre, and Sudanese citizen Kamal Hussain, director of RIHS education sector, left Bangladesh on May 12 as they had been asked to leave within 24 hours of notice, said sources.

The government in March this year objected to the presence of the two in Bangladesh for their suspected roles behind militancy in the country.

The kidney dialysis centre at Banani in Dhaka and the education department at RIHS Uttara office were also closed permanently, said the sources.

After the closures, most of the medical equipment and furniture of the two organisations were handed over to another NGO -- Kuwait Joint Relief Committee.

ABU MOAZ & MEDICAL CENTER
The Daily Star on March 28 reported that RIHS was using its bank accounts to meet its office expenses despite a government ban on releasing fund to the suspected donor to militants.

Government later found that the joint bank account at Bank Asia belongs to Zafar Musa Abu Moaz and RIHS' Bangladeshi office secretary Fazlur Rahman.

Although the withdrawals were ostensibly for office use, the cheques did not carry any seal of the NGO.

Abu Moaz, however, was ousted from Iraq for his alleged connection with an international extremist outfit, Ikhwanul Muslimin, said sources.

In the second week of March, cash amounting to Tk 1 lakh and other valuables were stolen from the kidney dialysis centre, but mysteriously no complaint was lodged so far.

KAMAL & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
Following strong intelligence insistence on banning RIHS since the arrest of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh chief Abdur Rahman in last March, the government so far objected to the presence of six foreign nationals at RIHS office in the country.

Sudanese citizen Kamal Hossain was one of them. The others are -- Sajlee Rifat Osman Muhammad, Abbas Bao, and Muhammad Ahmed al Sheikh of Sudan, Abdur Rahman of Yemen, and Zafar Musa Abu Moaz of Iraq.

Investigators found some of them to be connected with Ikhwanul Muslimin while some were ousted from their home countries for links with militancy.

The Dayee and Imam (Daoa) section and Higher Islamic Education Institute under RIHS at Uttara in Dhaka were also closed last year for alleged connection with militancy.

PREVIOUS DEPARTURES
Following the August 17 countrywide series of blasts last year, five foreign officials of RIHS left the country under government pressure.

Before joining RIHS the five officials -- two Sudanese nationals, two Algerians and a Libyan -- had worked for Al-Haramine in Bangladesh, another international NGO alleged to be a donor to Al Queda and now banned worldwide.

All 14 foreign Al Haramine officials left Bangladesh when the government banned its activities in 2004. But the five returned later and joined RIHS secretly.

Investigators found RIHS, also known as Jamiatul Ihya ul Turath, to be accused of aiding militant activities in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and of providing aid to militant leader Asadullah al Galib and his men in Bangladesh with most of their funds.

Galib and Rahman established relations with RIHS with recommendations from Indian militant leader Abdul Matin Salafi who was expelled from Bangladesh in 1988.