Ousted PM Sheikh Hasina accused of involvement in enforced disappearances: Report

Updated: December 15, 2024 08:44 AM IST

3 min read

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina checks her watch as she waits for the official opening time to cast her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AP)

An inquiry commission set up by Bangladesh’s interim government has provisionally implicated former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in incidents of enforced disappearances. According to a report presented to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Saturday, over 3,500 people are estimated to have been victims of such disappearances.

The Commission for Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance claims to have evidence linking Hasina as the “instructor” behind these incidents. A statement from Yunus’s office said, “The commission has found evidence of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s involvement as the instructor in the incidents of enforced disappearance.”

The report also named other individuals allegedly involved, including Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former Director General of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre Major General (sacked) Ziaul Ahsan, and senior police officers Monirul Islam and Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid.

These individuals, along with several others, are reportedly on the run, and believed to have fled abroad after the Awami League government was ousted on August 5, following a student-led uprising.

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Chairman of the commission, retired Supreme Court judge Mainul Islam Chowdhury, stated that the investigation revealed a “systematic design” allowing enforced disappearances to remain undetected. “Individuals carrying out enforced disappearances or extrajudicial killings lacked knowledge about the victims,” Chowdhury said, as reported by PTI.

The commission’s report highlighted the role of the police’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite anti-crime force composed of personnel from various branches of the military and law enforcement. The report alleged that the RAB, along with other agencies, collaborated to abduct, torture, and detain victims. These operations were segmented deliberately to evade detection.

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In response, the commission proposed the abolition of the RAB and called for the scrapping or amendment of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009. Rights activist and commission member Sajjad Hossain said the panel had recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances and examined 758 cases so far. Of these, 27 per cent of victims never returned, while others were officially recorded as arrested.

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During a press briefing, the commission announced the discovery of eight secret detention centres in and around Dhaka. The chairman informed Yunus that another interim report would be submitted in March, with the full investigation likely to take another year.

“You are doing a very important job. We are ready to provide all the support you need,” Yunus told the commission.

TV channels and social media platforms have broadcast interviews with victims of alleged enforced disappearances, including opposition activists and former military officers who opposed Hasina’s regime.

This interim report, titled “Unfolding The Truth”, was submitted by the five-member commission, which includes Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli, rights activist Nur Khan, BRAC University lecturer Nabila Idris, and rights activist Sajjad Hossain.

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