As in any community of this size, occasional violence has stalked the camps, including a series of murders and other violence attributed to the illegal drug trade. The criminal activity was one reason Bangladeshi officials gave in justifying the mobile phone ban.

But Rohingya said that innocent people, already devastated by having to flee their homes in Myanmar, were being unfairly punished.

“How will we communicate with our relatives without mobile phone communication?” said Mohammed Yusuf, who lives in a camp. “If any of our relatives falls sick or dies, we won’t even know what has happened.”

From Sri Lanka and Indonesia to Sudan and India, the authorities are using online blackouts to obscure areas of conflict. Across the border from the camps, in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, the government has shut off mobile internet services for many residents since June.

[Governments around the world are increasingly shutting down internet and mobile services.]

Rakhine State has been convulsed not only by anti-Rohingya pogroms but also by conflict between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the Myanmar military. While internet access was restored in four townships this month, human rights groups warn that the military is continuing incursions against ethnic Rakhine that could constitute war crimes.

This week, United Nations experts called for an independent investigation into the deaths of at least 15 ethnic Rakhine men who died in the custody of the Myanmar military. The men were accused of being linked to the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine militia.