The murder of Buet student Abrar Fahad reflects the Bangladesh government's failure in bringing people responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
It reflects “a deeper failing by the Bangladesh government to bring those responsible for politically motivated abuses to justice,” Brad Adams, executive director of HRW’s Asia Division, said on Thursday.
“A government that ignores torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings by security forces, and arbitrary arrests over dissent, begets a culture where students can run a “torture cell” on a university campus,” reads the statement.
According to HRW, this deadly incident is not surprising.
“The Awami League government has long refused to hold Chhatra League supporters accountable for acts of violence, and intimidation. There are complaints of extortion, threatening false allegations, violent attacks around elections, and even acting as vigilante law enforcers during the 2018 student protests,” said Adams.
Abrar, a second year student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of the university, was beaten to death by some activists, and leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Buet unit, inside the university’s Sher-e-Bangla Hall on the early hours of October 6.
He was summoned from his dorm room to Room 2011, known among students as the “torture cell,” that is run by members of the Chhatra League, said the statement. A few hours later, Fahad was found dead.
“Bangladesh authorities should ensure a thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation into Abrar Fahad’s murder, and hold all those responsible to account,” it demanded.
“Bangladesh should not be a Room 2011,” demanded Adams.
Abrar's father filed a murder case against 19 people at Chawkbazar police station on Oct 7 evening. As of Friday, 18 people have been arrested, and detained in the case.