Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan

Last updated
Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan
Born1 December 1971
Bogra, Rajshahi, Bangladesh
AllegianceFlag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh
Service/branchFlag of the Bangladesh Army.svg  Bangladesh Army
brddaar gaardd baaNlaadesher ptaakaa.svg Border Guard Bangladesh
Years of service9 June 1992 – present
Rank Bangladesh-army-OF-5.svg Colonel
Unit East Bengal Regiment
Commands held
Known for
Battles/wars UNAMSIL
UNMIS
Police career
Unit Rapid Action Battalion
AllegianceFlag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh
BranchBangladesh Police Flag.svg Bangladesh Police
Service years2012–2018
Rank Bangladesh Police DIGP Rank.svg Additional Director
Awards Bangladesh Police Medal - Service.png BPM (bar)

Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan is a Bangladesh Army Colonel and the Sector Commander of Border Guards Bangladesh in Rajshahi. [1] [2] He is the former Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) [3] an elite multi-service unit of the Bangladesh Police and oversaw crackdowns on Islamist militants. [4] [5] He has been sanctioned by the United States for his activities in RAB. [6] He had previously commanded RAB-5, RAB-7, and RAB-11. [7]

Contents

Early life

Khan was born on 1 December 1971 in Bogra District, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh. [8]

Career

Khan received his commission in Bangladesh Army on 9 June 1992 as part of the 26th Bangladesh Military Academy long course. [9] He had served in various units of East Bengal Regiment and the President Guard Regiment. [9] He also served in the 24th Infantry Division. [9] He had served in United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone and United Nations Mission in Sudan. [10]

Khan served as the Commanding Officer (CO) of Rapid Action Battalion-5 based in Chittagong in 2012. [11]

Khan served as the Commanding Officer (CO) of Rapid Action Battalion-5 in Rajshahi in 2013–2014. [12] [13] He led raids against Islami Chhatra Shibir in 2013 and recovered weapons from their dorms. [14]

On 8 March 2015, Khan was appointed the Commanding Officer (CO) of Rapid Action Battalion-11 based in Narayanganj. [15] He replaced Lieutenant Colonel Tareque Sayeed Mohammad who was dimissed from service for his role in the Seven Murders of the Narayanganj, a case of extrajudicial killing in which Tareque would later be convicted. [15] [16] He worked on improving the image of the force in Narayanganj which had been damaged by the seven extrajudicial killings. [17] He oversaw the investigation into the death of Tanwir Muhammad Taqi. [18]

Khan was appointed Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion on 28 April 2016. [19] He was deputation from Bangladesh Army. [20] He replaced Ziaul Ahsan who had been promoted to Brigadier General and made the Director of the National Security Intelligence. [21] [22] He briefed the media following a RAB operation on 22 March 2017 in Dhaka that resulted in the arrest of five members of the militant Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. [23] In November 2017, he led operations when three alleged militants were killed in a shootout with RAB ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Bangladesh. [24] In 2019, he was awarded the Bangladesh Police Medal. [25]

Khan left his post of Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion on 17 September 2018 and was succeeded by Colonel Mohammad Jahangir Alam. [19]

U.S. sanctions

On 10 December 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury placed sanctions on Alam and added him to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under the Global Magnistsky Act for engaging in serious human rights abuses relating to his tenure at RAB, including the Killing of Ekramul Haque. [26] [27] [28] [29]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapid Action Battalion</span> Elite Bangladeshi Police Unit

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir</span> Student Organization in Bangladesh

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Seven Murders of the Narayanganj was the enforced disappearance and murder of seven people in Bangladesh, including a Panel mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation and a lawyer in April 2014. 27 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members, including three top RAB 11 officials, were involved in the abduction and killing.

Ziaul Ahsan is a 2 Star rank Bangladesh Army officer. He is an incumbent Director General of National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC). He previously served as additional director general (ADG) of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). While he was serving as the additional director general of RAB, he was transferred as the DDG of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). Later, he was attached to NSI as the director.

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Killing of Ekramul Haque refers to the extrajudicial killing of Ekramul Haque, councillor of Teknaf Municipality Ward three, by a unit of Rapid Action Battalion. That resulted in Teknaf Municipality three times in a row as a candidate of Awami League. Haque was a former President of Teknaf unit of Jubo League, the youth wing of Awami League, for 13 years. Bangladesh government was carrying a crackdown on the narcotics trade and the death of more than a 100 suspects in shoot-outs with law enforcement agencies. Since 2018 more than 200 individuals were killed in extrajudicial shootings by law enforcement agencies in Teknaf alone.

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Mohammad Jahangir Alam is a Bangladesh Army Brigadier General and the former Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) an elite multi-service unit of the Bangladesh Police. He was one of seven officers of RAB sanctioned by the United States for violation of human rights. He is the Commander of President Guard Regiment.

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References

  1. ↑ "BGB Day celebrated in Rajshahi in festive mood | District". BSS. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  2. ↑ "BGB now a well-organized force: Shahriar - News - observerbd.com". The Daily Observer. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  3. ↑ "No trace of 22 convicted BDR jawans". theindependentbd.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  4. ↑ "Bangladesh Assessment 2017". www.satp.org. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  5. ↑ Staff Correspondent (2018-03-26). "State honours families of café attack victims". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  6. ↑ Uddin, Minhaj. "US imposes sanctions on IGP, RAB DG, 4 others officials". The Report. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  7. ↑ "Latif Khan new CO of N'ganj RAB". Risingbd Online Bangla News Portal. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  8. ↑ "Global Magnitsky Designations; North Korea Designations; Burma-related Designations; Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (NS-CMIC) List Update". U.S. Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  9. 1 2 3 "RAB ADG Ziaul Ahsan promoted, made director of National Security Intelligence". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  10. ↑ "র‌্যাবের নতুন অতিরিক্ত মহাপরিচালক আনোয়ার লতিফ খান". jagonews24.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  11. ↑ Correspondent, Our; Ctg (2012-06-07). "26 men rescued". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  12. ↑ "Lt Col Anwar Latif made RAB 11 CO". Dhaka Tribune. 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  13. ↑ "Snaps and Snippets". The Daily Star. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  14. ↑ Staff Correspondent; Rajshahi (2013-09-27). "Arms, explosives found in Shibir-run coaching centre". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  15. 1 2 Report, Star Online (2014-05-09). "Anwar new Rab-11 CO". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  16. ↑ "Death for Nur, Tareque Sayeed, 24 others". theindependentbd.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  17. ↑ "N'ganj RAB boss vows to return its image". Risingbd. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  18. ↑ Hossain, Emran (2016-03-06). "No charges pressed yet". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  19. 1 2 "Treasury Sanctions Perpetrators of Serious Human Rights Abuse on International Human Rights Day". U.S. Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  20. ↑ "US sanctions on RAB: Key facts and analysis". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  21. ↑ "Col Anwar new ADG of Rab". Col Anwar new ADG of Rab | theindependentbd.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  22. ↑ jagonews24.com. "Col Anwar made RAB ADG". jagonews24.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ Nation, The New. "5 'Neo-JMB men' held in city". The New Nation. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  24. ↑ "Three alleged militants killed in Bangladesh before Pope's landmark visit". Saudigazette. 2017-11-28. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  25. ↑ Islam, Shariful (2019-01-30). "Medal galore for police personnel". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  26. ↑ "KHAN, Mohammad Anwar Latif". sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov.
  27. ↑ "US Imposes Sanctions on Top Officials of Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion Over Human Rights Abuse". The Wire. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  28. ↑ "US Sanctions on Bangladesh's RAB: What Happened? What's Next?". cgs-bd.com. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  29. ↑ "Government to probe Ekramul killing". ajkerograbani.com | A complete Bangladeshi newspaper. 2018-06-03. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
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