[🇧🇩] DGFI and Ayna Ghor

[Saif]

Victims’ visit to Aynaghar with Yunus uncertain

Uncertainty looms over the inclusion of the victims of enforced disappearances in the team that will accompany chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus during his visit to secret detention centres in the capital.

www.newagebd.net

Victims’ visit to Aynaghar with Yunus uncertain
Staff Correspondent 06 February, 2025, 20:58

Nagarik Samabesh holds a protest rally with several demands, including the access of the victim families and journalists to secret detention centres, in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh in Dhaka on Thursday. | Focus Bangla photo

Uncertainty looms over the inclusion of the victims of enforced disappearances in the team that will accompany chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus during his visit to secret detention centres in the capital.

An advisory council meeting on Thursday decided that the chief adviser would visit the secret detention centres, commonly known as Aynaghar, at the earliest with the local and foreign journalists, said a press release issued by the chief adviser’s press wing on Thursday.

The press release, however, mentioned nothing about the victims during the visit though the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance and the members of civil society demanded to allow the victims during the visit.

The chief adviser’s visit to Aynaghar was initially scheduled for February 3 but it was stalled as the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance was unwilling to accompany him during the visit without victims, according to the commission members.

The secret detention centres include Rapid Action Battalion Headquarters’ Taskforce for Interrogation, RAB-2 Crime Prevention Company-3, and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence’s Joint Interrogation Cell which is popularly known as Aynaghar, they said.

The commission’s member Sazzad Hossain told New Age on Thursday that the commission would not go to visit Aynaghar with the chief adviser without taking the victims with them.

In the final week of January, the Chief Adviser’s Office informed the commission that it would not allow victims of the enforced disappearances during the chief adviser’s Aynaghar visit, the commission members added.

‘We sent a letter to the interim government on January 29 informing that we would not join the visit if the victims of enforced disappearances were not included. We prepared a list of six victims for the visit,’ the commission’s member Sazzad Hossain told New Age on Wednesday.

The letter also said that the commission’s neutrality would be in question if it visited the Aynaghar without taking the victims with them.

‘We think that the victims, who were in the secret detention centres, should be included in the team to accompany the chief adviser during his Aynagar visit for identifying the perpetrators, cells and their experiences,’ Sanjida Islam Tulee, co-founder of Maayer Daak, a platform of families of enforced disappearance victims, said.

On Thursday, a group of civil society members and enforced disappearance victims under the banner of ‘Voice of Enforced Disappeared Persons’ at a rally in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh demanded the access of enforced disappearance victims and journalists to visit the secret detention centres.

The commission has recorded over 1,700 incidents of enforced disappearances that occurred during the Awami League regime between January 6, 2009 and August 5, 2024, according to the members of the commission.

On December 14, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance in its first interim report submitted to the chief adviser found prima facie involvement of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Haisna and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, in enforced disappearances.

The interim government formed the commission after assuming power on August 8, three days after the ouster of Awami League regime on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.

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

 

[Saif]

Chief Advisor Yunus to visit notorious 'Ayna Ghor' detention site soon

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus is set to visit the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence or DGFI’s controversial interrogation facility, widely known as “Ayna Ghor”, in the coming days. The Chief Advisor’s Office announced the decision following a meeting of the interim

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Chief Advisor Yunus to visit notorious 'Ayna Ghor' detention site soon
bdnews24.com
Published :
Feb 07, 2025 00:35
Updated :
Feb 07, 2025 00:35

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus is set to visit the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence or DGFI’s controversial interrogation facility, widely known as “Ayna Ghor”, in the coming days.

The Chief Advisor’s Office announced the decision following a meeting of the interim cabinet on Thursday.

While no exact date has been specified, the statement confirms he will visit “as soon as possible” and will be accompanied by journalists.

Yunus had earlier expressed his intention during a meeting with the Commission on Enforced Disappearances on Jan 19 to visit Ayna Ghor.

The commission briefed him on the progress of its investigations and urged him to inspect the facility, known officially as the Joint Interrogation Cell.

The commission argued that his visit would offer reassurance to victims and their families.

News of the planned visit raised expectations among survivors and relatives, who hoped to be part of the delegation.

However, Netra News reported on Wednesday that military authorities have objected to the presence of journalists and survivors, effectively stalling the visit.

Citing four officials, Netra News reported that the Army Headquarters opposed allowing media and survivors inside Ayna Ghor, fearing it could “damage the army’s reputation”.

The investigative outlet also revealed that the Commission on Enforced Disappearances had issued a formal memo to the government in late January, warning that they would cancel their own scheduled Ayna Ghor visit on Feb 3 if survivors were barred from joining.

The memo, quoted in the report, stated: "Excluding survivors from the visit would violate their legal rights. A visit without them would be ineffective."

The decision for the chief advisor’s visit was finalised amid ongoing debates over these concerns during Thursday’s Council of Advisors meeting.

During the Awami League government’s tenure, numerous opposition figures were allegedly abducted and detained in secret locations without trial.

These shadowy detention sites became known as Aynaghar, or house of mirrors.

Some detainees returned to their families with harrowing accounts of torture, while many remain missing.

The interim government’s Commission on Enforced Disappearances has identified several such facilities run by different security forces.

"The 'Ayna Ghor' is within the compound of the DGFI. It's a two-storey building with 20 to 22 cells on the ground floor. There are a few rooms on the second floor. It is called 'Ayna Ghor' on social media but basically it's a joint interrogation cell, commission chief retired High Court judge Moinul Islam Chowdhury said on Oct 3, 2024.

In the Jan 19 meeting, commission members detailed brutal cases, including the enforced disappearance of a 6-year-old child.

In response, Yunus acknowledged the severity of the findings, saying: "The cases uncovered in your investigation are chilling. I will visit Ayna Ghor soon.”​