Hasina and other top military and civilian officials implicated in disappearance.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and several top military and civilian officials were involved in overseeing the disappearances. The organization said that Sheikh Hasina, Major General (retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddique, Major General Ziaul Ahsan and senior police officials were involved in the disappearances. The US-based human rights organization recently published a 50-page report titled ‘After the Monsoon Revolution: A Roadmap to Lasting Security Sector Reform in Bangladesh’.
The National Commission on Enforced Disappearances Investigation Team released its first report on December 14. It said that more than 3,500 enforced disappearances occurred during Sheikh Hasina’s rule. HRW also claimed that officials involved in the disappearances told the organization that Sheikh Hasina and her top government officials were aware of these disappearances. Three people were released from secret detention centers after Hasina fled the country, and authorities had denied holding them for years.
Mir Ahmad Bin Kasem, a lawyer who was a victim of the disappearance, said the place where he was held was “perfectly designed to make the detainees experience worse than death.” The National Disappearances report noted that the pattern of torture was not only systematic but also institutional.
HRW said in its report that the government should act on the recommendations of the National Commission of Inquiry to dismantle the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a counter-terrorism unit of police and military officers responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances. RAB chief AKM Shahidur Rahman has acknowledged the unit’s secret detention centers and said that if the interim government wants to dismantle the unit, RAB will accept it.
HRW has called on the interim government to establish a National Human Rights Commission and independent civilian oversight over the implementation of the law, citing Bangladesh’s long history of divisive politics and its influence on law enforcement agencies.
Noting that Bangladesh’s long history of divisive politics can permeate law enforcement agencies, HRW has called on the interim government to establish a National Human Rights Commission and independent civilian oversight over the implementation of the law. It also stressed the need to apply international standards to the use of force and to hold members of the security forces accountable to the law.
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