[🇧🇩] DGFI and Ayna Ghor

[Saif]

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX-GB-hVaOs

আয়না ঘর থেকে মুক্তি পেয়ে কি বললেন?

 

[Saif]

আয়নাঘর নিয়ে যে তথ্য দিলেন কর্নেল হাসিন

 

[Saif]

'আয়নাঘর' থেকে ফিরছেন গুম হওয়া বন্দিরা

 

[Saif]

আয়নাঘরের লোমহর্ষক তথ্য (২য় পর্ব ) Lt. Col. Hasinur Rahman Interview |

 

[Saif]

আয়নাঘর (১ম পর্ব) আওয়ামী লীগ আমলে গুম করা মানুষদের আটকে রাখার গোপন কারাগার

 

[Saif]

আয়না ঘর থেকে ফিরে লোমহর্ষক বর্ণনা ! হাছিনার কুকর্ম ফাঁস | কাঁদলেন মানবাধিকার হাইকমিশনার

 

[Saif]

হাসিনার গোপন কারাগারের লোমহর্ষক তথ্য

 

[Saif]

পালানোর সময় বিমানবন্দরে আটক জিয়াউল হাসান |

 

[Saif]

আয়না ঘরের মূল কারিগর মেজর জেনারেল জিয়াউল আহসান

 

[Saif]

বাংলাদেশের গোয়েন্দা সংস্থার গোপন কারাগার

 

[Saif]

Ex-army officer Ziaul placed on 8-day remand

A Dhaka court today placed former army officer Major General Ziaul Ahsan on an eight-day remand for interrogation in a case filed over the death of a shop employee in the capital’s New Markest area on July 16

www.thedailystar.net

Ex-army officer Ziaul placed on 8-day remand
Police seek 10-day remand for Ziaul Ahsan

Ziaul Ahsan

A Dhaka court today placed former army officer Major General Ziaul Ahsan on an eight-day remand for interrogation in a case filed over the death of a shop employee in the capital's New Markest area on July 16.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arfatul Rakib passed the order after investigation officer Sajib Mia, a sub-inspector of New Market Police Station, produced him before the court with a 10-day remand appeal in the case, said a sub-inspector working in the court.

The defence also sought bail along with the cancellation of the remand prayer.

Army, BGB, and additional police personnel were deployed on the premises of the court ahead of Ziaul being produced there.

Ziaul, former director general of NTMC, was arrested from Dhaka's Khilkhet in a case filed with New Market Police Station over the killing of Shahjahan Ali, 24, during quota reform protests on July 16.

He was relieved of his post in the army on August 6 and was detained in dramatic circumstances around midnight the same day after the plane he was on was brought back from the Dhaka airport runway to the boarding bridge.

During the proceedings today, Ziaul told the court that since his detention on August 7, he was kept at Aynaghar (a secret detention facility), where during the tenure of Hasina's government many people were kept confined and tortured for years.

He also claimed that Aynaghar was not his creation and that no one ever filed any complaint, case or even a general diary against it.

Claiming his innocence, he asserted that he had not visited the New Market area during the incident.

He also mentioned that he is suffering from heart issues.

On Wednesday, Salman F Rahman, private industry affairs adviser to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and former law minister Anisul Huq were placed on a 10-day remand in the same case.

The duo was arrested in Dhaka's Sadarghat on Tuesday.

On July 17, Ayesha Begum, mother of the victim, filed a murder case against some unnamed miscreants.

The victim Shahjahan was critically injured and died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at 7:05pm while undergoing treatment, according to the case statement.​

 

[Saif]

আয়নাঘরের রোমহর্ষক অভিজ্ঞতা

 

[Saif]

নিজের মোবাইলে Ayna Ghar এর করুন দৃ'শ্য দেখালো আরমান!

 

[Saif]

'আয়নাঘর' গোপন বন্দিশালার বর্ণনা দিলেন মাইকেল চাকমা

 

[Saif]

Inside the Aynaghar

After years of denial by the authorities, chilling details about secret prisons are now emerging as victims of enforced disappearances begin to speak out after their release following the dramatic fall of Sheikh Hasina’s 16-year regime.

www.thedailystar.net

Inside the Aynaghar

After years of denial by the authorities, chilling details about secret prisons are now emerging as victims of enforced disappearance begin to speak out after their release following the dramatic fall of Sheikh Hasina's 16-year regime.

Victims who once kept themselves shut are now providing distressing accounts of these detention facilities, commonly known as "Aynaghar," (house of mirrors), where victims of enforced disappearance were held in inhuman conditions over the last one and a half decades.

Although these victims come from different age groups and political and social backgrounds, their narratives of these thick-walled, iron-door prison cells are strikingly similar.

Piecing together the details of their narratives, it is now clear that many of these facilities were run by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), which operates under the defence ministry. DGFI heads are reportable directly to the prime minister and prime minister's security adviser.

These facilities are notorious for their complete isolation, with detainees unable to see any light from the outside world.

The Daily Star spoke to four such victims who endured mental and physical torture inside these secret prisons for days, months and even years during the Awami League regime.

"Upon investigation of the alleged enforced disappearance cases, the findings reveal that people often disappear voluntarily to avoid legal action for cases lodged against them."— Bangladesh wrote to UN on May 12, 2022.

CHT-based United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) leader Mikel Changma is one of them. After five years of captivity since April 2019, he was freed just two days after Hasina fled the country in the face of a popular uprising.

"For the first time in five years, I saw daylight in the early hours of August 7 when they released me," Mikel told The Daily Star, adding that he was unaware of the August 5 political changeover.

Former Bangladesh ambassador to Vietnam Maroof Zaman had gone missing on December 4, 2017, and returned home after nearly 16 months (467 days) in March 2019. Talking to this newspaper yesterday, he narrated how his captors tried to establish him as an anti-government element.

His accounts also clearly indicate that his captors were linked with the army, as he saw words like "Sena" (army) in the water bottles; Defence Medicine, trading prohibited, on the medicine leaf; and Station Headquarters Library and Senabahini Library in the Quran he was provided during his captivity.

The two other victims are Kamruzzaman, president of Grameen Telecom Workers Union, and its General Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan. Their 2022 captivity in the so-called Aynaghar was short – only seven days – but their secret imprisonment appears to be directly linked to Sheikh Hasina's reported dislike of Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Both said they were forced to give confessional statements against Yunus. They were also forced to claim that they coerced workers into withdrawing the cases against the Nobel laureate after secretly agreeing with the Grameen Telecom authorities in exchange for money.

FALSEHOOD FALLS APART

The AL government has persistently denied the existence of the secret prisons run by security forces, and maintained that the term "enforced disappearance" was used to malign the government and its achievements.

"Upon investigation of the alleged enforced disappearance cases, the findings reveal that people often disappear voluntarily to avoid legal action for cases lodged against them. Sometimes they choose to disappear due to family feud or to avoid business liability, and some often willingly disappear with the intention of embarrassing the government," the government wrote to the UN on May 12, 2022.

But this version started falling apart after the release of former army brigadier general Abdullahil Amaan Azmi and Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem on August 6, the day after Sheikh Hasina's fall. Azmi, son of late Jamaat leader Ghulam Azam, and Ahmad, son of executed Jamaat leader Mir Quasem, were held in secret prisons for eight years.

"I was kept in darkness, not allowed to see the light of day. Even the ventilator in the room was sealed off," Azmi said in a video posted on social media after his release.

In a recent interview with AFP, Barrister Ahmad, a defence lawyer fighting the war crimes case against his father when he simply vanished, shared his ordeal inside Aynaghar and how he got fresh air for the first time in eight years.

"Slowly, slowly, I could realise that I am not alone," he said. "I could hear people crying, I could hear people being tortured, I could hear people screaming."

The story of Aynaghar first came to light on August 14, 2022, when Netra News, a Sweden-based news portal, revealed in a report the location of a secret prison in which the victims of enforced disappearances were kept.

For over a decade, hundreds of families in Bangladesh have lived with the unbearable pain of not knowing the fate of their loved ones. These individuals—mostly critics of the government and members of the opposition parties—disappeared during its 16-year rule, allegedly abducted by state agencies.

In its 2021 report, Human Rights Watch said that security forces have committed over 600 enforced disappearances since Hasina came to power in 2009.

While some people were later released, produced in court, or said to have died during gunfire exchanges with security forces, nearly 100 people were still missing, HRW said.

Rights activists have noted an increase in enforced disappearances before and after elections, as well as during political movements.

According to rights organisation Odhikar, at least 708 people were victims of enforced disappearance between 2009 and June 2024. Of these incidents, 454 occurred between 2013 and 2018, during which Bangladesh held two general elections.

Odhikar data show that 98 people were victims of enforced disappearance in 2018, 95 in 2017, 97 in 2016, 69 in 2015, 41 in 2014, and 54 in 2013. In the lead-up to the last election, state agencies allegedly abducted 54 people in 2023.

AN INVITE TO AYNAGHAR

On August 6, members of Mayer Daak, a platform for family members of victims of enforced disappearance, gathered in front of the DGFI office inside Dhaka cantonment seeking information about their missing relatives.

Azmi and Ahmad, also known as Arman, suddenly returned home that day, and Mikel the next day.

At a meeting with DGFI on August 6, a six-member team including rights activists and a UN representative, demanded access to the detention facility. The team was allowed to visit the DGFI headquarters on August 7.

After coming out from the facility, rights activist Shireen Huq told families of some victims, "They invited us to visit the facility. The DGFI said there were no detainees in their Dhaka facility. They also said that they will form a joint commission to arrange visits for rights activists to 23 other facilities across the country to see if the victims of enforced disappearance are there."

Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Choudhury and Law Adviser Asif Nazrul did not respond to our calls and text messages seeking their comments. Inter Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) also declined to comment, saying it does not deal with matters related to DGFI.

At a meeting with members of Mayer Daak on August 13, Prof Yunus expressed deep concerns after hearing the distressing accounts of families whose loved ones have gone missing over the years.

On Sunday, the platform sent a list of 158 missing people to DGFI.

Afroza Islam Akhi, cofounder of Mayer Daak, told The Daily Star that the interim government has assured them that it will address their concerns.

"We saw that Lt Gen Ziaul Ahsan was arrested and placed on remand. This was one of our demands to investigate his role. We have also demanded the formation of an enquiry commission, which they agreed to," she said, adding that they also want information about the numerous secret detention cells across the country.

Nur Khan Liton, a noted rights activist who has long been voicing concerns about enforced disappearance, said many people still remain unaccounted for after being taken away by alleged state agencies.

"It is time to demand their release or for the state to provide information on their whereabouts," he said.​

 

[Saif]

‘Captors kept watch on my family’

On the evening of December 4, 2017, around 6:45pm, M Maroof Zaman, former Bangladesh ambassador to Vietnam, was on his way from his Dhanmondi home to receive his daughter at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

www.thedailystar.net

‘Captors kept watch on my family’

M Maroof Zaman Former diplomat Detention: Dec 4, 2017 to Mar 16, 2019


On the evening of December 4, 2017, around 6:45pm, M Maroof Zaman, former Bangladesh ambassador to Vietnam, was on his way from his Dhanmondi home to receive his daughter at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

While driving, he noticed a microbus tailgating and attempting to ram his car.

Near the airport, his car was intercepted, and two men in plain clothes got off the microbus, assaulted him and dragged him out of his car.

They forcibly placed Maroof into the microbus, where several other individuals blindfolded him, tied his hands, and covered his face with a cloth.

Under duress, he had to call a family member to instruct him to hand over his laptops to a "technician" who would visit his home.

"They wanted my laptops. I initially resisted, but after the assault I had no choice but to cooperate. They eventually took my laptops from my home," he told The Daily Star.

After driving for about 20 minutes, the microbus stopped, but he could not see where they were as he was blindfolded.

Maroof, also a retired captain of Bangladesh Army, said he was confined to a small, filthy room furnished with a wooden bed, a CCTV camera, and four fans. The space was barely livable.

"Many people were detained in this room at different times, and some had written their names, addresses and dates on the walls. These writings were painted over every three months."

During his captivity, the former diplomat, 67, faced interrogations more than nine times.

"They [abductors] questioned me about certain people I didn't know. They enquired about some agreements between India and Bangladesh. They also wanted to know how I became aware of an Indian intelligence agency training members of a Bangladeshi intelligence agency.

"They repeatedly enquired why I wrote anti-government articles on international online platforms," said Maroof.

While being held, Maroof realised that he was in a cantonment area and those carrying out duties there were from the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).

He got some clues such as a water bottle marked "Sena", medications, and a copy of the Holy Quran with military references.

"After I finished one bottle of water, they [captors] gave me another one with the label 'Sena'. The medicine they gave me had 'Defence Medicine, Trading Prohibited' written on the strips.

"When I requested a Quran from the person who looked after the detainees, he handed me one, which had 'Section Headquarters Library' stamped inside.

"They used the term 'Boro Bhai' to refer to senior officials for confidentiality," he said.

Maroof said he once heard someone outside his room loudly saying -- "Guard, Sabdhan".

He also heard planes and trains quite often early in the morning.

During an interrogation, interrogators hit him in the face.

"My mouth started bleeding and my teeth were damaged. They also struck me with sticks, injuring my hands and legs. They did not provide any medical treatment."

He also learned that his captors had been keeping track of his family's activities.

"One day, an officer told me that my daughter was at a restaurant on Dhanmondi-27. He said she had enrolled in a private university."

Throughout his captivity, he suffered from various ailments, including skin conditions, a hand ligament injury, and mouth sores.

Maroof's ordeal finally ended on March 16, 2019.

"I was asleep in my room when a man awakened me around 1:00am. They took me to an interrogation room and warned me not to reveal anything about the last 15 months," he recounted.

His captors returned his clothes but kept his laptops. They then drove him to near his house in Dhanmondi around 2:00am, and instructed him not to look back.

Maroof resigned as captain from Bangladesh Army in 1982. He was sent into forced retirement as an ambassador in 2013.

The former diplomat demanded formation of a commission to investigate all the incidents of enforced disappearance that occurred over the last 15 years.​

 

[Saif]

আয়নাঘরে সাবেক রাষ্ট্রদূত যেভাবে জানতে পেরেছিলেন এর পেছনে কারা

 

[Saif]

‘They didn’t even let me drop off the milk for my child’

After years-long legal battles, all 110 cases against Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and his organisation Grameen Telecom over alleged labour law violations were dropped by union workers and employees on May 23, 2022, following a settlement regarding payment claims.

www.thedailystar.net

‘They didn’t even let me drop off the milk for my child’

Firoz Mahmud Hasan
Labour leader
Detention: Jun 30, 2022 to Jul 6, 2022

After years-long legal battles, all 110 cases against Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and his organisation Grameen Telecom over alleged labour law violations were dropped by union workers and employees on May 23, 2022, following a settlement regarding payment claims.

Around a month later, on June 30, Grameen Telecom Workers' Union General Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan, 44, was picked up by plainclothes men.

"I couldn't tell day from night. I didn't even hear the call to prayer. I could only tell it was morning when they brought breakfast on a melamine plate."— Firoz Mahmud Hasan.

He was then taken to the infamous "Aynaghar", a secret detention facility, where he was subjected to torture in an attempt to force him to make a statement against Prof Yunus and Grameen Telecom authorities.

This is the story of his abduction, his experience in "Aynaghar", and his eventual release.

HOW HE WAS PICKED UP

It was around 10:30pm on June 30, 2022. Firoz, along with his wife and children, had just sat down for dinner when they realised they were out of milk for their one-and-a-half-year-old child. So, Firoz left his dinner and went to buy some at a shop close to his home in Mirpur's ECB Chottor.

On his way home, 10-15 masked men stopped him and asked for his identity. They took his mobile phones and forced him to go with them.

They didn't even let him drop off the milk for his child. He was quickly blindfolded and taken away on a microbus.

"I couldn't tell day from night. I didn't even hear the call to prayer. I could only tell it was morning when they brought me breakfast."— Firoz Mahmud Hasan.

Hours later, Firoz found himself in a detention centre, which he was unaware at the time was the infamous "Aynaghar."

There, he was tortured, both physically and mentally, and threatened with the same treatment for his family if he did not comply with their request.

His captors wanted Firoz to record a statement claiming that union leaders accepted money from Grameen Telecom officials to convince workers to drop their cases.

When Firoz revealed his harrowing experience at the "Aynaghar" to The Daily Star on Monday, he said he could not open up until now for fear of reprisals and only found his voice after the Hasina-led government fell on August 5.

'HOUSE OF MIRRORS'

After Firoz was brought to his cell at the "Aynaghar", his blindfolds were removed.

His cell was very narrow. It was 3 feet wide and 6-7 feet long. Concrete walls surrounded him on three sides, and a locked iron gate led to a corridor.

"The cell was empty except for a light bulb, a fan, a water bottle, and a blanket."

Firoz said no light, sound, or air from outside reached his cell.

"The bulb was always on, and there were fans outside my cell, which were very loud. Whenever I needed to use the toilet, I had to raise my hand, and a guard would arrive. I assume they monitored me 24 hours through CCTV."

The only time he didn't have a blindfold on was when he went to the toilet and when he was inside his cell.

"I couldn't tell day from night. I didn't even hear the azaan (call to prayer). I could only tell it was morning when they brought me breakfast."

THE TORTURE

Firoz was subjected to intense interrogation and physical and mental torture.

"They beat me badly with sticks from my waist down and tortured me with electric shocks, strapping me to a steel chair and tying my hands."

They threatened that if he didn't comply with their request, his family members would be picked up and tortured as well.

"I kept thinking I would be killed any day or never see my family again."

HANDOVER TO COPS

After seven days of torture, Firoz was handed over to the DMP's Detective Branch (DB) in the early hours of July 6.

There, he came across his colleague Kamruzzaman, the union president, who had also remained in detention during the same period as Firoz and underwent similar experiences.

The two were then shown arrested in a case filed over allegations of fraud and embezzlement by another union leader and subsequently placed on remand for seven days.

During the 7-day interrogation, Firoz and Kamruzzaman were forced to memorise a script, intended to serve as their confessional statement.

"A copy of the text was submitted to the court, which recorded it as my confessional statement."

Every time his lawyer requested bail in court, the court rejected it.

He was finally granted bail in April 2023 after spending nine months in jail. Even then, he continued to feel a lingering sense of insecurity and anxiety.​

 

[Saif]

NHRC demands full disclosure about 'Aynaghar'

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has demanded full disclosure of information about secret detention cells called “Aynaghar,” including their current status, the identities of its administrators, and those responsible for establishing them

www.thedailystar.net

NHRC demands full disclosure about 'Aynaghar'

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has demanded full disclosure of information about secret detention cells called "Aynaghar," including their current status, the identities of its administrators, and those responsible for establishing them.

In a press release, the NHRC today said that The Daily Star's August 21 report titled "Inside the Aynaghar," along with similar reports from various media outlets, has drawn its attention.

The NHRC expressed serious concerns and has taken suo motu (self-initiated) action, calling for comprehensive information about the Aynaghar.

These secret detention cells, infamously known as "Aynaghar," (house of mirrors), where victims of enforced disappearance were held for days, months and even years in inhuman conditions during Sheikh Hasina's 16-year regime. These facilities are notorious for their complete isolation, with detainees unable to see any light from the outside world.

The NHRC requested the senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide comprehensive details regarding the current status of the Aynaghar, its administrators, the identities and numbers of those detained, the legal grounds for their detention, and those responsible for establishing the cells, according to the press release.

The deadline for submitting the report has been set for September 25.

Grameen Telecom Workers' Union General Secretary Firoz Mahmud Hasan - Aynaghar secret prisons victim

"In a democratic state, the physical and mental torture inflicted over years in the prohibited 'Aynaghar' is seen by the Commission as a severe violation of both constitutional and legal norms, as well as human rights. The damage caused to detainees due to indefinite detention is irreparable, and they are entitled to compensation," the NHRC said.

Given this context, it is necessary to investigate the location of the Aynaghar, identify those who managed it, determine how many people were detained there in total, their identities, the legal basis for their detention, and who was behind the establishment of these secret cells, it added.

The suo motu notice states that the Commission can only request reports from the government concerning allegations of disappearances or abductions by law enforcement agencies, whether initiated suo motu or based on complaints.

Due to the limitations of Section 18 of the National Human Rights Commission Act, 2009, the Commission cannot conduct its own investigations and must rely on government reports, which can sometimes take years to receive, it said.

The Commission believes that this legal limitation leaves it in a helpless position and requires urgent reform.​

 

[Saif]

[H3]স্বৈরাচারী হাসিনার কার্টুন ভিডিও|| রক্তপিপাসু হাসিনা আপু[/H3]