Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh

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A mother with a photo of her son who became a victim of forced disappearance in 2013 (image by VOA) Forced disappearance-bangladesh-1.jpg
A mother with a photo of her son who became a victim of forced disappearance in 2013 (image by VOA)

Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh refer to extrajudicial executions carried out by law enforcement agencies without due legal process and to abduction cases in which the government directly or indirectly kidnaps people and holds them incommunicado. [1] [2] From 2009 to 2023, at least 2,699 people were victims of extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh. [3] During the period, 677 people were forcibly disappeared, and 1,048 people died in custody. [3] From 2004 to 2006, at least 991 people were killed extrajudicially by "death squad" the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). [1] The practice of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances primarily involves law enforcement agencies such as the RAB and the Detective Branch (DB) of the police.

Contents

These practices began during the administration of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and continued through subsequent regimes, including those of General Ershad and the government of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. [1] Since 2009, the Awami League government has been particularly noted for using such tactics to control dissent, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Nations and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, repeatedly appeal to the government to stop these human rights violations, but to no avail. [4] [5] [6] [7] In 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on the RAB and its seven high officials. [8] Since the imposition of the US sanctions, the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances has begun decreasing.

In 2016, the families of the victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh founded a platform Mayer Daak to press their demand to know the whereabouts of their loved ones who disappeared under mysterious situation. [9] [10] On August 14, 2022, Netra News, which was then blocked in Bangladesh, published a whistleblower report alleging that Bangladesh officials were holding and torturing victims of enforced disappearances at Aynaghar, a secret detention facility.

After the downfall of the Awami league government in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024, the interim government led Muhammad Yunus on August 27, 2024, formed a five-member inquiry commission to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. [11] Headed by a retired high court judge, the commission was tasked with investigating the activities of the police, the RAB, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Special Branch (SB), the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the military's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). [11]

On August 29, 2024, the interim government also signed the instrument of accession to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, aiming at preventing enforced disappearances as a state party. [12]

Background

It first occurred after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's administration between 1972 and 1975. Many members of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, army officers and other opposition party members were picked up by Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, an elite para-military force formed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. [13] It has continued since then and through the formation of Rapid Action Battalion. Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Since then, during her regime, around 402 people have been forcefully disappeared by the state security forces. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

After the Awami League party assumed power in the country through election in 2009, law and order situation began to deteriorate with opposition men being attacked by the ruling party men that left several opposition men killed and many others injured. [21] [22] [23] Armed conflicts and violence erupted in the university campuses throughout the country. [24] Political activities of the opposition parties were often attacked. [25] From 2010, picking up of opposition leaders and activists by the state security forces began to surge in the country.

Pre-election period of 2013

Throughout most of 2013, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its alliance observed nationwide general strikes and blockades in demand of a non-partisan interim government or a caretaker government to hold the next general election of 2014. The E.U., the U.S. and the Commonwealth announced that they would not send observers since they were concerned about the credibility of the election. [26] [27] [28] Before the controversial national election of 2014, 20 opposition men were picked up by security forces. [29] [30] [31] [32] As of 2016, they remained missing. [29] [30]

From 2014 to July 2019, 344 people were victims of forced disappearance in Bangladesh. 40 of them were found dead, 66 were found under arrest in government custody and 203 still remain missing according to Ain o Salish Kendra. Those who have reappeared remained silent about the period they were missing. [33]

Notable cases of enforced disappearances

M Ilias Ali

On 17 April 2012, Ilias Ali, was a former Member of Parliament and prominent leader of the main opposition party BNP, went missing after last being seen in Banani, Dhaka at midnight with his driver. [34] [35] [36] His private car was found abandoned near his Dhaka home. [36] In the following days, five of his party men died and many were injured as they observed strikes and demonstration programs in protest of the disappearance. [35] The incident got much media coverage.

Aminul Islam

Aminul Islam, a Bangladeshi trade unionist, was a member of Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation and an organizer for the Bangladesh Center of Worker Solidarity. [37] On 5 April 2012, Islam's dead body was found near Dhaka after being disappeared earlier. [37] [38] The body bore marks of torture. [37] [38] His disappearance and murder sparked much international criticism. [38]

Amaan Azmi, Mir Ahmad and Hummam Chowdhury

In August 2016, sons of three opposition leaders were picked up by Bangladesh security forces and were taken to unknown places. The victims were a former brigadier-general of the Bangladesh Army Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, son of Ghulam Azam; Hummam Quader Chowdhury, son of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury; and Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem Ali. [39] Amaan Azmi was forcedly picked up from his residence in front of his family members. In all three cases, there were multiple witnesses, but the state police denied their involvements in the abductions. [40] [39] Later, the United Nations expressed concern over the abductions of three men, and urged the Sheikh Hasina's government to check the increasing number of cases of forced disappearances in the country. [40] Hummam Quader Chowdhury returned home in March 2017 and reported that he could not "remember" who detained him. [41] In August 2024, Amaan Azmi and Mir Ahmad were released from Aynaghor after the fall of Sheikh Hasina´s regime. [42] [43]

Sukharanjan Bali

A prosecution witness who was abducted allegedly by plainclothed police on 5 November 2012 from the gate of Supreme Court after he had decided to testify in favour of an accused war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee, who at the time was being tried before the International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh. He was later traced to Kolkata's Dumdum prison. [44]

Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem

Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem was a victim of enforced disappearance and was believed to have been abducted by security forces of the government of Bangladesh. He is the son of late Mir Quasem Ali, a prominent leader of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and was a member of his father's legal defence team before his abduction.

Mir Ahmad was reportedly snatched from in front of his family members at his house in Mirpur, Dhaka during the night on 9 August 2016. Mir Ahmad was released on 6 August 2024, the very next day after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh following popular protests. Pictures shared on social media by family members showed him embracing his mother and two daughters.

Other cases

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2020

Law enforcement

On 27 November 2013, former BNP lawmaker Saiful Islam Hiru and BNP leader Humayun Kabir Parvez were abducted while going to Comilla from Laksham. Convicted murderer of Narayanganj Seven Murder, former RAB-11 official Lt Col (sacked) Tareque Sayeed is the number one accused in the case. RAB-11 is accused of burning 2 cars and killing Iqbal Mahmud Jewel in front of BNP leader Sahab Uddin Sabu in Lakshmipur on 23 December 2013. RAB-11 is also accused of throwing down Jamaat leader Foyez Ahmed from the roof of a 2 storied building. RAB -11 is also accused of abducting businessman Tajul Islam in a Hi-ace microbus on 17 February 2013. 13 days after abduction, Tajul's dead body was found from Meghna river. RAB-11 and Tareque Sayeed is accused in the case of abduction of businessman Ismail Hossain who has been missing since 7 February 2014. [90] [91] [92]

In April 2014, bodies of seven men were discovered from the Shitalakkhya river. They were strangled, blindfolded and thrown into the river, four days after they were kidnapped few kilometres from Narayanganj district court by RAB men who are accused to do it as contract killing. [20] [93] [94] In this case, on 16 January 2016 ex-AL men, ex-RAB officials among 26 were handed death penalty [95] as the charges of abduction, murder, concealing the bodies, conspiracy and destroying evidences were proved beyond any doubt. [96] On 12 December 2016 RAB claimed arrest of a man from Dhaka who took Tk 50 lakh, posing as a source of law enforcers, from a family, in assurance of tracing a missing member of the family. [97]

Official response

On 23 November 2017 in parliament, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina claimed that people also disappeared in other countries. [14] Elite paramilitary force, RAB's Director of Media and Legal Wing, Mufti Mahmud Khan told Al Jazeera about the involvement of RAB in these forced disappearance that these were false allegations and that "RAB is there to curb crimes and it is just doing its job." [98] Law Minister Anisul Huq alleged that the disappearance claims were part of a plot by opposition parties to discredit the government. [99] Sajeeb Wazed, son of Sheikh Hasina, wrote in an article that the Bangladesh police had not uncovered any evidence suggestive of the government's involvement behind any reported disappearance. [100]

Criticism

The incidents of enforced disappearances were condemned by both domestic and international human rights organizations. The main opposition party BNP has held the government responsible for conducting these forced disappearances, [101] [102] and demanded an UN-sponsored investigation into such cases. [103] The British parliament frequently expressed concerns over the forced disappearances of political opponents in Bangladesh. [104] [105] During her visit to Bangladesh in 2012, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern over the disappearance of Ilyas Ali and Aminul Islam. [35] Despite the demands for the government initiatives to probe such disappearances, investigations into such cases were absent. [30] [106] [107]

In July 2017, Human Rights Watch published an 82-page report accusing the Bangladesh government of secret detention, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of political opposition members. [108] It called for a halt in such human rights violations. The report also contained gruesome accounts of forcefully picking up and subsequent disappearances of political opposition members at the hands of law enforcement authorities.

During May 2018, the United Nations' High Commissioner of Human Rights and 56 other organizations expressed their concerns about Bangladesh's enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings in Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations. [109]

See also

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References

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  99. ↑ Rowlatt, Justin (13 October 2016). "Fears over Bangladesh's 'disappeared'". BBC News . Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  100. ↑ Wazed, Sajeeb. "Bangladesh: 'Disappeared' Reappear All the Time". The Diplomat. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  101. ↑ "Bangladesh opposition leader 'undeterred' by arrests". BBC News. 21 May 2012.
  102. ↑ "Same group kidnapped Ilias Ali". The Daily Star. 19 April 2014.
  103. ↑ "BNP demands UN-sponsored investigation into abductions". New Age. 5 August 2015.
  104. ↑ "UK does not agree with Bangladesh govt views". The Daily Star. 26 May 2016.
  105. ↑ "House of Commons - Hansard - UK Parliament".
  106. ↑ "Bangladesh: Investigate Case of Enforced Disappearance". New York: Human Rights Watch. 17 March 2015.
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  108. ↑ "Bangladesh: End Disappearances and Secret Detentions". Human Rights Watch. 6 July 2017.
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