[🇧🇩] UN investigation into enforced disappearances /deaths of students/citizens at the hands of security agencies

Enforced disappearances' victims faced systematic denial of justice during Hasina regime: Report
FE ONLINE REPORT
Published :
Jan 20, 2025 20:42
Updated :
Jan 20, 2025 21:30


Relatives of the disappeared form a human chain at the Central Shaheed Minar on International Day for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances on August 30, 2024 — FE/file

The Probe Commission on Enforced Disappearances has reported that under Sheikh Hasina’s regime, victims faced systematic denial of justice and deprivation of their fundamental rights.

Part of the report was released on Monday.

According to the report, law enforcement agencies frequently refused to register complaints or conduct proper investigations, often justifying their inaction by citing "orders from above." Instead, they dismissed the disappearances with unfounded claims, such as victims going into hiding to evade creditors or due to personal matters.

“For those who returned alive, the ordeal continued unabated. Victims often endured ongoing threats, silencing them from sharing their experiences or seeking accountability,” it said, adding that their fear was intensified by the absence of due process, the lack of judicial safeguards, and the systemic impunity granted to the perpetrators.

The cumulative psychological, social, and financial toll on the victims highlights the urgent need for restorative justice, systemic reforms, and comprehensive support for them.

It further revealed that the practice of forcibly disappearing children alongside their mothers has been widespread and longstanding, with cases reported from 2015 to as recently as 2023. These incidents involved security forces ranging from the Metropolitan Police in Chittagong to the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit in Dhaka.

The report also pointed out the dire economic conditions faced by families of the disappeared, as many victims were primary breadwinners. Their absence has plunged families into financial crises, affecting their overall well-being and limiting their ability to search for missing loved ones. It has also hindered their access to basic human rights such as education, healthcare, and shelter.

Additionally, the report noted that legal challenges related to inheritance have added further complications for these families.

The Commission observed that during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure, a culture of impunity became deeply entrenched within the security forces.

“It was evident in our conversations with the officers of both civil and military forces that not only did most of them never expect to be ever held accountable for their crimes, they also did not necessarily view the crimes as crimes,” the report stated.

For example, cases of enforced disappearances involving individuals accused of terrorism were often dismissed as unimportant and unworthy of investigation. Similarly, custodial torture was described as a routine part of law enforcement operations, according to the report.

The report emphasised that this culture of impunity has had a profound impact on the nation, particularly on the victims and their families. However, it also noted the detrimental effect on the security forces themselves.

Over the past 15 years, evidence of crimes committed by security forces has been systematically manipulated. The report indicated that this was not only done by those in power until August 5, 2024—who likely sought to cover up their own wrongdoings—but also by those who later assumed leadership roles.

“It reveals the pervasive and coercive nature of the culture of impunity, which compels even those not originally directly involved in the commission of offences to protect and perpetuate it,” the report added.​

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE: 5 ex-servicemen yet to respond to commission’s summons
Tanzil Rahaman 22 January, 2025, 00:37



Five men did not respond to the summons by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance to appear before it early November last year over the alleged enforced disappearance of retired lieutenant colonel Md Hasinur Rahman.

Of them, four were serving in the army at the time of the issuance of the summons and the other was a retired serviceman at the time.

The commission in a letter on October 28, 2024 summoned one former and four then serving army officers to appear before it on November 7 for questioning, said the commission members.

The five men are retired brigadier general Redwan Al Mahmud, colonel Moinul Hasan, lieutenant colonel Akter Hamid Khan, lieutenant colonel Abdullah Al Azhar and lieutenant colonel Moksurul Haque.

‘We have summoned many former and serving military officials to the commission for interrogation over the enforced disappearance. All of them came to the commission in response to the summons, except these five,’ commission member Sazzad Hossain told New Age on Tuesday.

He said that by not responding to the summons they were violating law as the commission served as a civil court in limited purpose.

‘As they were not present in the commission in the scheduled date, we will provide report to the government considering them as guilty,’ said Sazzad.

He also said that when the commission summoned them, four of them were serving in the army.

‘We don’t know their present status whether they are still serving or have retired,’ Sazzad added.

When contacted, the Inter Service Public Relations Directorate told New Age that all the five men were now retired and that the ISPR would not comment on retired officials.

According to the commission, Lieutenant Colonel Md Hasinur Rahman for the first time became the victim of enforced disappearance on July 9, 2011 when he was still in the army.

On August 8, 2018, he became a victim of enforced disappearance for the second time when he had already retired.

According to a report the enforced disappearance commission submitted to the chief adviser on Sunday, although a new director general assumed office of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence several days after August 5, 2024, at least some of the evidence was manipulated at the detention centre of the joint interrogation cell at the DGFI headquarters.

The report further said that during the visit at the detention cell at the DGFI headquarters, commission members found that the cell’s wall was freshly painted, implying that whatever evidence was on the wall was destroyed. There were signs of hasty ‘structural modifications’ also which was further indicative of concealing evidence of crimes.

Despite the director-general persuasively argued that he was not directly involved in crimes committed before his tenure, his immediate response to manipulate evidence underscored the coercive power of this culture of impunity, the report said.

‘His [the DG] actions, ostensibly to shield perpetrators of past crimes, went against his own self-interest and professional integrity. This pattern of doctoring of evidence and non-cooperation was not isolated to DGFI only,’ the report added.

The chief adviser’s press wing shared part of the report with the media on Monday.

The interim government after taking over on August 8 formed the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance.

A total of 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances were recorded in the commission so far.

In its first interim report submitted to the chief adviser on December 14, the commission found prima face involvement of Sheikh Hasina and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser retired major general Tarique Ahmed Siddique in enforced disappearances.

It also found prima facie evidence of the involvement of Indian authorities in the system of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.​

হাসিনা সরাসরি গুম বা হত্যার নির্দেশ দিতেন: প্রধান উপদেষ্টাকে দেওয়া প্রতিবেদনে হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ

এইচআরডব্লিউর একটি প্রতিনিধি দল মঙ্গলবার রাজধানীতে প্রধান উপদেষ্টা অধ্যাপক মুহাম্মদ ইউনূসের সঙ্গে সাক্ষাৎ করেন। ছবি: পিআইডি

বাংলাদেশের অন্তর্বর্তী সরকারকে এমন এক নিরাপত্তা বাহিনী নিয়ে কাজ করতে হচ্ছে, যাদেরকে ক্ষমতাবান ও রাজনীতিকরণ করা হয়েছে এবং যারা দীর্ঘদিন ধরে দায়মুক্তি পেয়ে আসছে।

মঙ্গলবার নিউইয়র্কভিত্তিক আন্তর্জাতিক মানবাধিকার সংস্থা হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ প্রকাশিত এক প্রতিবেদনে এ কথা বলা হয়েছে।

সংস্থাটির এশিয়ার আঞ্চলিক পরিচালক এলেইন পিয়ারসন বলেন, 'গণতন্ত্রের জন্য লড়াই করতে গিয়ে প্রায় এক হাজার বাংলাদেশি তাদের জীবন উৎসর্গ করেছেন, যা বাংলাদেশের জন্য অধিকারভিত্তিক সমাজ গড়ার এক ঐতিহাসিক সুযোগ তৈরি করে দিয়েছে।'

তিনি আরও বলেন, 'এই কঠিন অর্জন হারিয়ে যেতে পারে, যদি অন্তর্বর্তী সরকার দ্রুত কাঠামোগত সংস্কার করতে না পারে—যে সংস্কারের মাধ্যমে ভবিষ্যতের সরকার যদি দমননীতি প্রয়োগ করতে চায়, তবে তা প্রতিরোধ করা সম্ভব হবে।'

প্রতিবেদনটি মঙ্গলবার অন্তর্বর্তী সরকারের প্রধান উপদেষ্টা অধ্যাপক ড. মুহাম্মদ ইউনূসের হাতে তুলে দেওয়া হয়েছে।

'আফটার দ্য মনসুন রেভলিউশন: অ্যা রোডম্যাপ টু লাস্টিং সিকিউরিটি সেক্টর রিফর্ম ইন বাংলাদেশ' শীর্ষক প্রতিবেদনে উল্লেখ করা হয়, আইন প্রয়োগকারী সংস্থা ও নিরাপত্তা বাহিনীগুলো দীর্ঘদিন ধরে রাজনৈতিক এজেন্ডা বাস্তবায়নের হাতিয়ার হিসেবে ব্যবহৃত হয়ে আসছে।

কয়েকজন পুলিশ কর্মকর্তা হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচকে বলেন, জুলাই-আগস্টে আন্দোলন চলাকালে অতিরিক্ত বলপ্রয়োগের নির্দেশ সরাসরি রাজনৈতিক নেতৃত্ব থেকে এসেছে বলে তারা মনে করেন।

এক পুলিশ কর্মকর্তা বলেন, 'আমি মনে করি, আন্দোলনের সময় কর্মকর্তাদের চেয়ে রাজনৈতিক নেতারাই পুলিশ বাহিনীর ভূমিকা নির্ধারণ করেছেন বেশি।'

আরেক পুলিশ কর্মকর্তা হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচকে বলেন, তিনি ঢাকার মেট্রোপলিটন পুলিশের সদর দপ্তরে সিনিয়র কর্মকর্তাদের সিসিটিভি ফুটেজ দেখে দেখে মাঠপর্যায়ের কর্মকর্তাদের সরাসরি গুলি চালানোর 'নির্দেশ দিতে দেখেছেন, যেন তারা ভিডিও গেম খেলছেন'।

আরেক কর্মকর্তা বলেন, 'সিনিয়র কর্মকর্তারা আমাদের কঠোর হতে বলেন এবং বিশৃঙ্খলা সৃষ্টিকারীদের ছাড় না দেওয়ার আদেশ দেন। তারা সরাসরি "গুলি চালাও" শব্দ ব্যবহার করেননি, তবে তাদের নির্দেশ ছিল পরিষ্কার—সর্বোচ্চ শক্তি প্রয়োগ করো, পরিস্থিতি নিয়ন্ত্রণে আনতে যা প্রয়োজন তা করো, কঠোর অবস্থান নাও।'

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচকে তিনি বলেন, তার ধারণা, তৎকালীন স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী আসাদুজ্জামান খান ও পুলিশের মহাপরিদর্শক চৌধুরী আবদুল্লাহ আল-মামুন ঢাকা মেট্রোপলিটন পুলিশ কমিশনার হাবিবুর রহমানকে নির্দেশ দিয়েছিলেন এবং তিনি উপকমিশনারদের নির্দেশনা দিয়েছেন।

'আমি দেখেছি কর্মকর্তারা শরীরের গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অংশ লক্ষ্য করে গুলি করছেন। অনেক ক্ষেত্রে দেখেছি, অফিসাররা জীবনের ঝুঁকিতে না থাকলেও গুলি চালানো হচ্ছিল,' বলেন আরেকজন।

গুমের সঙ্গে জড়িত সামরিক কর্মকর্তারা সংস্থাটিকে জানায়, কাউকে আটকের পর যোগাযোগ বিচ্ছিন্ন করে রাখার বিষয়টি শেখ হাসিনা বা তার সরকারের শীর্ষ নেতারা জানতেন এবং কিছু ক্ষেত্রে হাসিনা সরাসরি গুম বা হত্যার নির্দেশ দিতেন।

সামরিক বাহিনীর এক কর্মকর্তার দাবি, আবদুল্লাহিল আমান আজমীকে আটক রাখা ও তার স্বাস্থ্যের অবনতির বিষয়ে শেখ হাসিনা জানতেন।

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচকে তিনি বলেন, যেহেতু আজমী সামরিক বাহিনীতে তার সহকর্মী ছিলেন, তিনি শেখ হাসিনার কাছে বারবার তাকে মুক্তি দেওয়ার অনুমতি চান এবং প্রতিবারই তার অনুরোধ প্রত্যাখ্যান করা হয়েছে।

তার দাবি, হাসিনা আজমীকে হত্যা করতে বলেছিলেন। 'আমি সেটা করিনি। কিন্তু এরপর থেকে তার মুক্তি নিয়ে আর কিছু বলিনি,' বলেন ওই কর্মকর্তা।

আরেক কর্মকর্তা বলেন, 'আমার ১০-১১ বছরের চাকরির অভিজ্ঞতায় আমি র‍্যাবকে গুম ও হত্যা করতে দেখেছি। এগুলো বাস্তব ঘটনা। র‍্যাব যেসব গুম ও ক্রসফায়ারের ঘটনা ঘটিয়েছে, তা পুলিশ সদর দপ্তর ও স্বরাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয়, বিশেষ করে স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রীর অনুমতি ছাড়া সম্ভব নয়।'

২০১৬ সালে গুম হওয়া মীর আহমদ বিন কাসেমের (আরমান) সাক্ষাৎকার নিয়েছে হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ। সাক্ষাৎকারে তিনি বলেন, এক কর্মকর্তার সঙ্গে তার দেখা হয়েছিল, যিনি তাকে জানিয়েছিলেন যে, ইউনিটে যোগদানের সময় তাকে আরমান, আজমী ও হুম্মাম কাদের চৌধুরীর গুমের বিষয়ে বলা হয়।

'তাদের মুক্তির বিষয়ে যেকোনো সিদ্ধান্ত শেখ হাসিনা নেবেন,' ওই কর্মকর্তা তাকে বলেন।

আজমী, হুম্মাম ও আরমান শেখ হাসিনার বিরোধী রাজনৈতিক নেতাদের সন্তান বলে প্রতিবেদনে উল্লেখ করা হয়।

এতে আরও বলা হয়, নিরাপত্তা বাহিনী গুম তদন্তে সম্প্রতি গঠিত কমিশনের কাজ বাধাগ্রস্ত করছে বলে উদ্বেগজনক ইঙ্গিত পাওয়া গেছে। কমিশনের সদস্যরা জানিয়েছেন, তারা আটটি নতুন অবৈধ আটককেন্দ্র চিহ্নিত করেছেন। তবে নিরাপত্তা বাহিনী এই গোপন স্থাপনাগুলোর প্রমাণাদি নষ্টের চেষ্টা করছে বলে আশঙ্কা প্রকাশ করেন তারা।

প্রতিবেদনে আরও বলা হয়, আইন প্রয়োগকারী সংস্থা ও নিরাপত্তা বাহিনী নির্যাতনের মতো অপরাধ চালিয়ে যাচ্ছে।

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ জুলাই-আগস্টের হত্যাকাণ্ডের আটটি ঘটনার এফআইআর পর্যালোচনা করেছে। প্রতিটি এফআইআরে হাসিনা, আওয়ামী লীগের মন্ত্রীসহ ২৯৭ জনের নাম ও ৬০০ অজ্ঞাতপরিচয় অভিযুক্ত উল্লেখ করা হয়েছে।

আট মামলার পাঁচ বাদী হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচকে বলেন, তারা মামলা করার সময় জানতেন না আসামি হিসেবে কাদের নাম উল্লেখ করা হয়েছে। তাদের ভাষ্য, পুলিশ বা স্থানীয় রাজনীতিবিদরা তাদের শুধু কাগজে সই করতে বলেছিলেন।

দুইজন বাদী হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচকে বলেন, আওয়ামী লীগ বিরোধী স্থানীয় রাজনৈতিক নেতারা পুলিশের রিপোর্টে সই করতে বলেন, যদিও তারা জানতেন না যে কার বিরুদ্ধে মামলা করা হচ্ছে।

আন্দোলন চলাকালে ঢাকার লক্ষ্মীবাজার এলাকায় নিহত এক শিক্ষার্থীর মায়ের সঙ্গে কথা বলেছে হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ। তিনি বলেন, যখন তিনি ম্যাজিস্ট্রেট আদালতে মামলা করতে যান, তখন পুলিশ ও স্থানীয় রাজনৈতিক নেতারা তাকে একটি এফআইআরে সই করতে বলেন। আগেই লিখে রাখা ওই এফআইআরে অভিযুক্ত হিসেবে ৫০ জনের নাম এবং ২০০-৩০০ জন অজ্ঞাত আসামির কথা উল্লেখ করা হয়।

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ দেখেছে, ওই এফআইআরে ৪৭ জন আওয়ামী লীগের সাবেক মন্ত্রী, সংসদ সদস্য ও ছাত্রলীগ কর্মীদের নাম উল্লেখ করা হয়েছে। পাশাপাশি একজন শিক্ষক ও দুইজন চিকিৎসকের নামও ছিল। ওই নারী বলেন, অভিযুক্তদের অনেকের পরিচয়ই তিনি জানেন না এবং তারা কীভাবে তার ছেলের হত্যাকাণ্ডে জড়িত হতে পারে তা তিনি বুঝতে পারেননি।

প্রতিবেদনে আরও উল্লেখ করা হয়, আইনশৃঙ্খলা বাহিনী এখনো অসংখ্য 'অজ্ঞাত' আসামির বিরুদ্ধে মামলা করছে। এটাকে 'বাংলাদেশে প্রচলিত অপব্যবহারমূলক পদ্ধতি' হিসেবে উল্লেখ করা হয়, যা পুলিশকে সাধারণত যে কাউকে মামলার আসামি না হলেও গ্রেপ্তারের সুযোগ করে দেয়।

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ জানিয়েছে, অভ্যুত্থানের সময় হাসিনা সরকারের পক্ষে প্রতিবেদন করার অভিযোগে পুলিশ সাংবাদিকদের বিরুদ্ধে মামলা করেছে।

'নভেম্বর পর্যন্ত আন্দোলন নিয়ে প্রতিবেদন করার জন্য অন্তত ১৪০ জন সাংবাদিকের বিরুদ্ধে হত্যা মামলা করা হয়েছে,' বলা হয় হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচের প্রতিবেদনে।

'উদাহরণস্বরূপ, চট্টগ্রামে পুলিশ ২৮ সাংবাদিকের বিরুদ্ধে তদন্ত করছে। তাদের বিরুদ্ধে ছাত্র আন্দোলনের প্রকৃত ঘটনা আড়াল করে "মিথ্যা ও মনগড়া প্রতিবেদন তৈরি"র অভিযোগ আনা হয়েছে,' বলা হয় প্রতিবেদনে।

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ চট্টগ্রাম মেডিকেল কলেজ হাসপাতালে ছাত্র আন্দোলনের সময় কর্মরত দুই স্বাস্থ্যকর্মী—আমজাদ হোসেন ও নিজাম উদ্দিনের সঙ্গে কথা বলেছে। তাদের বিরুদ্ধে ছাত্র আন্দোলনকারী ওয়াসিম আকরামকে হত্যার অভিযোগ আনা হয়েছে।

আমজাদ বলেন, 'ওইদিন আমরা দায়িত্বরত ডাক্তারদের সঙ্গে ওয়াসিমের মরদেহসহ বিক্ষোভে নিহত আরও তিনজনের মরদেহ দেখছিলাম। আমরা পরিবারগুলোর কাছে মরদেহ হস্তান্তরেও সহায়তা করেছিলাম। যখন জানতে পারলাম ওয়াসিম হত্যার মামলায় আমার নাম দেওয়া হয়েছে, অবাক হয়ে যাই। সেদিন আমি হাসপাতালে ছিলাম এবং আহত ছাত্রদের চিকিৎসা দিতে গিয়ে ডাবল ডিউটি করেছি।'

হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচ প্রতিবেদনে কিছু সুপারিশ করেছে। এর মধ্যে স্বরাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয়কে কাঠামোগতভাবে সংস্কারের উদ্যোগ নেওয়ার সুপারিশ করা হয়েছে, যেন আইনপ্রয়োগকারী সংস্থাগুলোর দায়িত্বপ্রাপ্তদের রাজনৈতিক স্বাধীনতা নিশ্চিত হয়।

অন্তর্বর্তী সরকারের প্রতি হিউম্যান রাইটস ওয়াচের অনুরোধ, বিচার বিভাগ ও প্রসিকিউশনকে নির্বাহী বিভাগের প্রভাবমুক্ত রাখতে এবং রাজনৈতিক নিয়ন্ত্রণ বা হস্তক্ষেপ থেকে সুরক্ষিত রাখতে যেন প্রয়োজনীয় ব্যবস্থা নেওয়া হয়।

তারা আরও সুপারিশ করেছে, র‌্যাপিড অ্যাকশন ব্যাটালিয়ন (র‌্যাব) বিলুপ্ত করে দেওয়া উচিত।​

UN finds evidence of Hasina's human rights violation in July uprising

Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her top brass grossly violated human rights to subdue the July uprising, reports Prothom Alo citing a UN fact finding mission.

A student-led protest against government job reservations in early July 2024 spread across the country through the month and eventually toppled the government, ending 15 years of absolute rule by Awami League. Faced with a people's uprising, Hasina fled to India on August 5 and has remained there since them.

The UN enquiry has found evidence that top officials of the autocratic regime of Awami League were complicit with the law enforcement agencies in using excessive force against protesters, reported the Bengali daily.

The enquiry report, set to be launched this afternoon in Geneva, covering human rights violations between July 1 and August 15, 2024, reportedly says that Awami League, together with its associate bodies, and law enforcement agencies like the police, border guards, Rab and Special Branch resorted to extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate firing, mass arrests, torture, enforced confinement and denial of treatment of the protesters.

The UN team from the office of its human rights commissioner visited several cities—Chattogram, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogura, Khulna, Sylhet and Gazipur—that witnessed strong protests. The team conducted over 230 interviews while developing the report. According reports, the UN team also spoke to 36 current and former officials of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The UN human rights chief Volker Türk was in Bangladesh in end October.

The Prothom Alo states that the UN finds that the political leadership and law enforcer are culpable in gross human rights violations arising out of their concerted use of excessive force. The report names several intelligence agencies and elite crime busting units as complicit in these human rights violations. These include the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI), National Telecommunication Monitoring Cell (NTMC), Detective Bureau (DB) of the police, Special Branch (SB) of the police and the Counterterrorism and Tran-national Crime (CTTC) Unit.​

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE: Only 1 of 12 on ICT warrants arrested
Tanzil Rahaman 11 February, 2025, 23:56



The police could arrest only one suspect, out of 12 individuals, against whom the International Crimes Tribunal in the first phase issued warrants of arrest for their alleged involvement in incidents of enforced disappearance during the Awami League regime in the past 15 years.

The hearing of the case is scheduled for today and only former Major General Ziaul Ahsan, also a former director general of the National Telecommunication National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre, was shown arrested in the case.

Ziaul was arrested on August 16, 2024 in a murder case and was later shown arrested in the enforced disappearance case, officials said.

The ICT issued warrants of arrest against the 12 suspects on January 6.

Besides Ziaul, the other 11 accused include ousted prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, her former security and defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed, retired lieutenant colonel Moksurul Haque and former CTTC chief and deputy inspector general of police Md Asaduzzaman.

Five former directors general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence – retired Lieutenant General Md Akbar Hossain, retired Major General Md Saiful Abedin, retired Lieutenant General Md Saiful Alam, retired Lieutenant General Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury and retired Major General Hamidul Huq and former Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Bureau director retired Major General Mohammad Towhid-ul-Islam are also facing arrest warrants issued by the ICT on January 6.

‘It is the duty of the police to arrest them as the court issued warrants to arrest them,’ ICT chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told New Age.

Besides Ziaul, two more former police officers – former superintendent of police Mohiuddin Faruqi and additional superintendent of police Alep Uddin – were so far arrested in cases of enforced disappearances, he said.

He said that they were preparing a list of other accused people in enforced disappearing cases.

Additional inspector general of police for crimes and operations (current charge) Md Akram Hossain said that he knew nothing about the arrest warrant.

He declined to make any comment about the issue.

The members of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance said that five former DGFI directors general and former CTIB director were accused of command responsibility over the DGFI headquarters’ Joint Interrogation Cell, popularly known as Aynaghar.

According to two commission members, four former DGFI chiefs were in the Dhaka cantonment till the issuance of the warrants of arrest and former DGFI chief Md Saiful Abedin was now in the United States.

They claimed that four former DGFI DGs and a former CTIB director were still staying in the country.

Asked for comments about the four former DGFI DGs staying in the cantonment till the issuance of the ICT arrest warrant, the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate did not make any comment in this connection although they were approached several times in the past two weeks over the telephone.

One of the commission members said that the trial process would be hampered if the accused former Army officers were not arrested.

Asked whether it would affect the investigation or the trial process if the former army officials were not arrested, ICT chief prosecutor Tajul said, ‘We think that the court or law is above all. It is the duty of the law enforcement agencies to show respect to the court’s order.’

According to the enforced disappearance commission, Md Akbar Hossain served as the DGFI DG from August 8, 2013 to February 1, 2017, Md Saiful Abedin from February 2, 2017 to March 4, 2020, Md Saiful Alam from March 5, 2020 to July 27, 2021, Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury from July 28, 2021 to November 2, 2022 and Hamidul Huq served as the DGFI DG from November 3, 2022 to August 5, 2024.

Mohammad Towhid-ul-Islam served as the director of the CTIB from November 2014 to August 2018.

On December 14, 2024, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance in its first interim report submitted to the interim government found prima facie involvement of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government in enforced disappearances.

The government formed the commission after it had taken office on August 8, 2024, three days after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 amid a student-led mass uprising.

The commission said that they recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances, while 758 complaints were scrutinised.

The commission estimates the number of enforced disappearances in the country would cross 3,500.​

Hasina ordered protesters’ killing, body hiding: UN
Staff Correspondent 12 February, 2025, 16:04


OHCHR logo | BSS photo

The ousted prime minister and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, herself ordered security forces to kill protesters and hide their bodies to quell the student-led protests in July 2024 in Bangladesh, according to a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The report, released from Geneva on Wednesday, said that the government of Sheikh Hasina and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during the student-led protests.

‘On the evening of 18 July, the then home affairs minister chaired a meeting of the “Core Committee,” attended by the heads of Police, RAB and BGB and intelligence leaders. At the meeting, the minister told the BGB commander, in front of the other senior security sector leaders, to order use of lethal force much more readily, as one of the meeting participants related to OHCHR,’ it said.

‘Senior official testimony also indicated that, in a meeting held the next day, the Prime Minister herself told security force officials to kill protesters to quell the protests and specifically demanded to “arrest the ringleaders of the protests, the troublemakers, kill them and hide their bodies”, it added.

‘This testimony is also consistent with Awami League General Secretary and then government minister Obaidul Quader telling reporters on July 19 that security forces had been given orders to “shoot on sight,” an instruction manifestly incompatible with international human rights standards,’ it said.

To remain in power, the Hasina government tried systematically to suppress these protests with increasingly violent means, the investigation also revealed.

‘The brutal response was a calculated and well-coordinated strategy by the former government to hold onto power in the face of mass opposition,’ said UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk in a statement on the occasion.

‘There are reasonable grounds to believe hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture, were carried out with the knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership and senior security officials as part of a strategy to suppress the protests,’ he added.

Meanwhile, the Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has welcomed the report and thanked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for undertaking an independent investigation into the rights violations and abuses during the July-August student-led mass uprising that ousted the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India for shelter on August 5, 2024.

The UN report recommended disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion and return personnel not involved in serious violations to their home units and confining the functions of the Border Guards Bangladesh to border control issues and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence to military intelligence and limit and delineate their resources and legal powers accordingly.

It also suggested demilitarising control over the Ansar/VDP to the extent that they assume law enforcement support tasks.

Responding to a question at a hybrid press conference, Rory Mungoven, the chief of the Asia-Pacific Section of the UN Human Rights Office, said that they had found the use of military rifles in 66 per cent cases of deaths, shotguns with pellets in 12 per cent, pistols 2 in per cent and others in 20 per cent cases, while referring to a Dhaka Medical College forensic department examinations of 130 cases of deaths as mentioned in the report.

Regarding the UN support in bringing to justice Hasina and others who fled the country after the July uprising to ensure justice, he said that the UN, like many countries, had reservations about the trial process leading to the death penalty and it needed to be seen from a broader perspective.

And Bangladesh should reconsider the death penalty, he added.

Drawing on the testimony of senior officials and other evidence, the UN Human Rights Office probe also found an official policy to attack and violently repress anti-government protesters and sympathisers, raising concerns as to crimes against humanity requiring urgent further criminal investigation.

It found patterns of security forces deliberately and impermissibly killing or maiming protesters, including incidents where people were shot at point-blank range.

Based on deaths reported by various credible sources, the report estimates that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed between July 1 and August 15, and thousands were injured, the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces, said the report.

Of these, the report indicates that as many as 12 or 13 per cent of those killed were children. Bangladesh Police reported that 44 of its officers were killed, it mentioned.

The protests were triggered by the High Court’s decision to reinstate a quota system in public service jobs but were rooted in much broader grievances arising from destructive and corrupt politics and governance that had entrenched economic inequalities, said the report.

At the request of the interim government chief adviser, Mohammed Yunus, the UN Human Rights Office in September dispatched a team to Bangladesh, including human rights investigators, a forensics physician and a weapons expert, to conduct an independent and impartial fact-finding into the alleged human rights violations that took place in Bangladesh between July 1 and August 15 in 2024.

Former senior officials directly involved in handling the protests and other inside sources described how ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and other senior officials directed and oversaw a series of large-scale operations, in which security and intelligence forces shot and killed protesters or arbitrarily arrested and tortured them, the report mentioned.

The report examined in detail the emblematic case of Abu Sayed, among others, who was filmed shouting ‘shoot me’ at police with his arms spread wide apart at a protest at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur.

There are reasonable grounds to believe that Abu Sayed was the victim of a deliberate extrajudicial killing by the police, the report said.

Having been at the forefront of the early protests, women, including protest leaders, were also subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment and attacks by security forces and Awami League supporters.

The report documented gender-based violence, including physical assaults and threats of rape, aiming at deterring women from participating in protests.

The investigation also found police and other security forces killed and maimed children, and subjected them to arbitrary arrest, detention in inhumane conditions and torture.

Also among those killed were very young children who were brought by their parents to protests, or who were shot as bystanders.

On August 5– the final and one of the deadliest days of the protests – a 12-year-old boy who was shot by the police in Azampur recalled that police were ‘firing everywhere like rainfall’.

It also documented troubling instances of retaliatory killings and other serious revenge violence targeting Awami League officials and supporters, police and media, as the Hasina government started to lose control of the country.

‘Hindus, Ahmadiyya Muslims and indigenous people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts were also subjected to human rights abuses. While some 100 arrests in relation to attacks on distinct religious and indigenous groups have reportedly been made, the perpetrators of many other acts of revenge violence and attacks on such groups still enjoy impunity,’ the report said.

The 114-page report provides a detailed set of recommendations to reform the security and justice sectors, abolish a host of repressive laws and institutions designed to stifle civic and political dissent and implement broader changes to the political system and economic governance.​

UN rights chief suggests pursuing ICC, universal jurisdiction to bring back offenders
Diplomatic Correspondent
Dhaka
Published: 12 Feb 2025, 23: 06


Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Reuters file photo

The brutal response to the student-people movement in July and August last year was a calculated and well-coordinated strategy by the former government to hold onto power, said Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

While disclosing a fact-finding report on human rights violations and abuses in the July-August uprising on Wednesday, he also noted that these acts were carried out with the knowledge, coordination and direction of the former political leadership and senior security officials.

To hold the responsible ones accountable, particularly for those staying abroad, he mentioned that there are accountability avenues at the international level that can be considered such as universal jurisdiction as well as a referral by Bangladesh of this situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Universal jurisdiction is a specific form of extraterritorial jurisdiction. It is based on the idea that some crimes are so serious that all states have the obligation to prosecute offenders, even if the offender is not a national of that state and even if the crime was committed elsewhere. As per rules, all states should prosecute perpetrators of war crimes in their own courts or hand them over to another state that will prosecute them.

The report is based on a comprehensive investigation undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of investigators from the UN human rights office, including a forensic specialist and weapons expert.

Volker Türk said, “Among our key findings: There are reasonable grounds to believe that officials of the former government, its security and intelligence apparatus, together with violent elements associated with the former ruling party, committed serious and systematic human rights violations. These include hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture and ill-treatment, including of children, as well as gender-based violence.”

He also noted that “These violations were carried out with the knowledge, coordination and direction of the former political leadership and senior security officials, with the specific goal of suppressing the protests and keep the former government’s grip on power. Women and girls were at the forefront of the early protests and our report details they were specifically subjected to gender-based violence by security forces and Awami League supporters. There are reasonable grounds to believe that certain crimes against humanity have been committed, directed against protesters and their supporters."

Over the trial of the incidents, the high commissioner said, “Efforts to ensure accountability have begun, with many cases being lodged, including before Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal. There are major challenges and deficiencies in the current legal system, and significant steps need to be undertaken to ensure compliance with international standards of due process and fair trial.”

Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is accused of human rights violations, is now staying in India. Asked about potential avenues to bring her back, Volker Türk noted that the universal jurisdiction mechanism can be used if an offender stays abroad. However, the host country needs to agree to try crimes of severe human rights violations.

Besides, Bangladesh may pursue the ICC in this regard, he added.​

RIGHTS ABUSES DURING JULY PROTESTS: UN for bringing perpetrators to book
Mustafizur Rahman 14 February, 2025, 00:02



The United Nations Human Rights Office in its fact-finding report on rights abuses related to July-August protests in Bangladesh has called for suspending officials, including those at the command and leadership level, facing credible allegations of serious human rights violations.

The report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights from Geneva on Wednesday also suggested holding the officials accountable to the law.

‘Ensure that perpetrators are held accountable according to law, and consistent with international standards, including where individuals in positions of command and leadership are suspected of criminal responsibility, and that victims have access to effective remedies and reparation,’ the report said.

It also called on the government to reveal and close all clandestine places of detention operated by intelligence, paramilitary, police or military forces, and investigate and prosecute the identified perpetrators of enforced disappearance, torture, and other crimes committed in such places.

The UN rights body also recommended ensuring effective, fair, impartial and comprehensive processes to investigate and prosecute extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearance and sexual and gender-based violence, including cases that predate the 2024 quota protests, and cases of revenge violence.

The OHCHR suggested the establishment of an effective and sufficiently independent human rights screening mechanism to ensure that no Bangladeshi personnel deployed to UN peace operations or other international missions is subject to credible allegations of international human rights, humanitarian or refugee law violations, or of any instance of sexual exploitation or abuse.

‘Until such a screening mechanism has been established, the government should agree with the United Nations Department of Peace Operations not to nominate for peacekeeping any military or police personnel who served with RAB, DGFI, or Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch at any previous point, or in any of the BGB Battalions deployed to the 2024 protests or previous instances of protests suppressed with use of force human rights violations,’ said the report.

About the implementation of the recommendations in the UN report, foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Rafiqul Alam said on Thursday that the government would decide in this regard after consulting with its stakeholders.

‘Based on direct testimony from senior officials involved and other inside sources, OHCHR was able to establish that the integrated and systematic effort using the entire range of police, paramilitary, military and intelligence actors, as well as violent elements linked to the Awami League, to commit serious violations and abuses occurred with the full knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership,’ the report said.

It said that beyond the need to ensure justice and accountability, there was an urgent need for broader reform of the security and justice sectors, the abolition of a host of repressive laws and institutions designed to stifle civic and political dissent, and the institution of profound changes to Bangladesh’s political and economic governance systems.

The report suggested ensuring the independence and impartiality of the judiciary at the institutional and individual level, in law and in practice, by ensuring that a genuinely independent mechanism is responsible for the recruitment, suspension, removal and discipline of judges, protecting judges against intimidation and harassment, preventing inappropriate or unwarranted interference including politically motivated interference and corruption.

As an immediate priority, it underlined the need for compilation and preservation of relevant evidence, including official orders and other internal documents and forensic evidence, and take disciplinary and criminal justice measures against officials and others who seek to destroy or hide evidence.

It also called for issuing ‘binding general directives – pending repeal of Art. 132 Code of Criminal Procedure Act and similar immunity-like provisions in other laws – authorising investigations and prosecutions of public officials’.

‘Reform the legal framework to clarify and ensure that crimes involving serious human rights violations committed against civilians are prosecuted before the regular courts, even if alleged against members of the military or any other personnel subject to military jurisdiction,’ said the report.

It also suggested initiating an inclusive nationwide dialogue and consultation to develop a holistic and context-specific transitional justice model that embeds the fair and effective pursuit of criminal justice, especially for the most responsible perpetrators.

The report called for establishing an independent public prosecution service staffed with professional full-time personnel with integrity, appropriate training and qualifications, and ensuring safeguards against appointments based on partiality, including political party affiliation or prejudice.

Conducted at the invitation of the interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, the UN investigation into rights violations from July 1, 2024 to August 15, 2024 revealed that the ousted prime minister and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, herself ordered security forces to kill protesters and hide their bodies to quell the student-led protests in July 2024 in Bangladesh.

It said that the Sheikh Hasina government and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during the student-led protests.

Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has welcomed the report and thanked the OHCHR for undertaking an independent investigation into the rights violations and abuses during the July-August student-led mass uprising that ousted the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024.

The UN report recommended disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion and returning personnel not involved in serious violations to their home units and confining the functions of the BGB to border control issues and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence to military intelligence and limiting and delineating their resources and legal powers accordingly.​

Only trial of July-Aug crimes can make reparations
14 February, 2025, 00:00

THE findings of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report on the student protests and consequent mass uprising in July–August 2024 that it was the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, deposed on August 5 that year, ordered security forces to kill protesters and hide their bodies point to heinous crimes. The report, released in Geneva on February 12, also holds security and intelligence services along with violent elements associated with the fallen Awami League and its government for their systematic engagement in a range of serious rights violation during the protests and uprising. The then home affairs minister, who presided over a meeting that the chiefs of the police, the Rapid Action Battalion and the Border Guard Bangladesh and intelligence agency leaders attended on July 18, 2024, asked the border guard commander to order the use of lethal force to quell the protests. Sheikh Hasina at a meeting the next day asked security force officials to kill the protesters, especially ‘ringleaders’ of the protests, and hide their bodies.

The report says that this corroborates what the Awami League’s general secretary on July 19 said, having ordered security forces to ‘shoot on sight’, which is manifestly incompatible with international rights standards. The ‘brutal response’ was a calculated, well-coordinated strategy of the Awami League to hold onto power. The report estimates 1,400 people to have been killed in July 1–August 15 and thousands wounded. Of them, 12–13 per cent were children and 44 were police officers. The use of military rifles was responsible for 66 per cent of the death, shotguns with pellets for 12 per cent, pistols for 2 per cent and other causes for 12 per cent. The report mentions former senior officials directly involved in handling the protests describe how Sheikh Hasina and other senior officials oversaw a series of large-scale operations in which security and intelligence units shot and killed protesters or arbitrarily arrested and tortured them. The UN investigation also finds an official policy to attack and violently repress protesters against government and their sympathisers which constitutes crimes against humanity that require further criminal investigation. All this shows that in addition to the abuses and crimes that the Awami League government made, law enforcement units were militarised. The UN report recommends disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion, confining the functions of border guards to border control issues and of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence to military intelligence and limiting their resources and legal powers.

The government must, therefore, expeditiously and credibly try the perpetrators of such crimes as only trial can make reparations. The government must also reform security and justice sectors, abolish repressive laws and dismantle institutions designed to stifle civic and political dissent.​

Enforced disappearances must never happen
14 February, 2025, 00:00

THE horror of the secret detention centres that law enforcement and security forces ran and kept victims of enforced disappearances for months and years during the Awami League regime, toppled in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024, was evident even after modifications were made to the centres. While media reports and the report of the commission of inquiry on enforced disappearances, which the interim government formed on August 8, made the horror of the secret detention centres, also known as Aynaghar, public, people in at home and abroad could see the centres on February 12 when the chief adviser, a number of other advisers, the commission of inquiry members, enforced disappearances victims and local and international media visited a few centres at Agargaon, Kachukhet and Uttara in Dhaka. One cannot but be horrified by the visuals of the detention centres, most of which are no larger than a grave, by the few still existing words and prayers written on the walls by the victims, the tools used for torturing the victims and the victims’ harrowing tale of torture and ill-treatment.

The detention centres, where victims of enforced disappearances, mostly members of political opponents, were kept and tortured and many of whom have never returned, testify to the heinous crimes that the Awami League regime committed. More than 600 cases of enforced disappearances have been reported since the Awami League government assumed office in 2009. In some cases, the people who disappeared were later found dead. In other cases, they returned but kept silent about what happened. The whereabouts of some are yet to be known. The families of the enforced disappearance victims even found it difficult to lodge complaints as the police, who control the complaint mechanism, often outright refused to register complaints about enforced disappearances while the Awami League government denied the existence of the secret detention centres and ignored calls of local and international rights organisations for independent and impartial investigation of the incidents of enforced disappearances. The detention centres are a scar, an affront to justice and a blatant abuse of law enforcement and intelligence units. The centres have tainted Bangladesh’s image as much as the image of law enforcement and intelligence units.

The country must ensure that heinous crimes like enforced disappearances do not happen again and that agencies are never politicised and they never engage in criminal, illegal, or extra-legal deeds. The government must bring all parties, including errant members of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, responsible to justice and make the required reforms to the operation of law enforcement and intelligence units.​

How Hasina lost control in August
‘On the morning of August 5, Army and BGB personnel largely stood by and did not implement their assigned roles in the plan’ - UN Report

FE ONLINE REPORT
Published :
Feb 13, 2025 19:19
Updated :
Feb 13, 2025 19:20



A report of the UN fact-finding mission presented a detailed account of how the ousted prime minister lost her control over the helm of the country’s affairs and eventually fled the country.

According to the report, released on Wednesday, extrajudicial killings to suppress the “March on Dhaka” (5 August) Public announcements by the protest leaders and information obtained by intelligence agencies gave Bangladesh’s political leadership the knowledge that the protest movement was planning a major protest march towards the centre of Dhaka on 5 August.

“On the morning of August 4, the then Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the National Security Council in which, inter alia, the chiefs of the Army, Air Force, Navy, BGB, DGFI, NSI, police and its special branch, and the ministers of Home Affairs, Education and Foreign Affairs, according to participants. They discussed reimposing and enforcing a curfew to prevent the “March on Dhaka.”

“After the meeting, the Home Affairs Ministry declared that a strict curfew would continue indefinitely without breaks, while the Prime Minister issued a statement describing the protesters as terrorists and appealing to our countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a strong hand,” the report added.

A second meeting was held in the late evening of August 4 at the Prime Minister’s residence, attended by the Prime Minister herself, the Minister of Home Affairs, the heads of the Army, police, RAB, BGB and Ansar/VDP, the Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division and the Army’s Quartermaster General, among others. During the meeting, the Army Chief and other security officials reassured the Prime Minister that Dhaka could be held, according to senior officials. A plan was agreed in which the Army and BGB would deploy alongside police to block protesters from accessing central Dhaka, if necessary by force. The Army and BGB were to block access routes into central Dhaka by deploying armoured vehicles and troops and not letting protesters pass, while the police were to “control mobs,” according to senior officials who participated in those meetings”.

“Consistent with these testimonies, at 00:55 am on 5 August, the former Director-General of the Special Security Forces, which was Sheikh Hasina’s personal bodyguard force, sent two consecutive WhatsApp messages to the Director-General of the BGB. According to hard copies of those messages provided to OHCHR, the first message forwarded a broadcast message that appeared to be from protest leaders informing marchers on routes to take into central Dhaka. The second message appeared to contain a video outlining an order of battle, distinguishing a first and second line of defence, a third long-range unit, a backup unit and a rear guard, along with advice from protest leaders on how to circumvent these lines of defence.

“On the morning of 5 August, Army and BGB personnel largely stood by and did not implement their assigned roles in the plan. One senior official testified that the Army had not deployed the forces that it promised to deploy, while another noted that BGB let some 10,000-15,000 protesters per hour pass by entry points it was supposed to control. A third senior official recounted how he knew that something was going wrong when he saw CCTV footage showing 500-600 protestors moving from Uttara towards central Dhaka without the Army stopping them”.

“A fourth senior official personally called the Prime Minister to inform her that things were not going according to plan,” it added.

Between July 15 and August 05 2024, at least six journalists were killed at or around protests in Dhaka, Sylhet and Sirajganj. Around 200 journalists were injured, according to figures provided by a reputable civil society organisation.

In some of the cases below, for which OHCHR obtained first-hand testimony, journalists were victims of security forces indiscriminately firing at protesters. However, in other cases, journalists were directly targeted with violence due to the exercise of their profession, including in some cases by protesters. “Photojournalists were especially subject to aggressions by different actors who did not wish their involvement in events to be recorded, said the report.

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