The London-based global rights group Amnesty International has alleged that Bangladesh’s security agencies enjoying “impunity” were involved in human rights violations that include torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearances as the country heads mired in political turmoil.
In its annual global report, Amnesty incorporated a chapter on Bangladesh observing “widespread torture and ill-treatment committed with virtual impunity by the police, Rab, the army and intelligence agencies.”
Amnesty said: “Methods included beating, kicking, suspension from the ceiling, food and sleep deprivation, and electric shocks. Most detainees were allegedly tortured until they ‘confessed’ to having committed a crime.”
However, two junior ministers – Quamrul Islam and Shamsul Hoque Tuku – turned down the assessment terming it error-ridden and lopsided one.
The report published on Wednesday said trade union leaders supporting the garment factory workers’ rallies against low pay and poor working conditions were harassed and intimidated. “One man was killed.”
Trade union leader Aminul Islam went missing on April 4. He was found dead a day later in Ghatail town of Tangail. His family saw evidence of torture on his body and believed he had been abducted by security forces. He had previously been arrested and beaten by members of the National Security Intelligence for his trade union activities.
It said the police and the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) allegedly distorted records to cover up the torture, including by misrepresenting arrest dates.
According to the Bangladesh criminal justice system, the law enforcers must present the arrested persons rounded with a specific charges before the court in 24 hours after their arrests.
The report referred that some 30 extrajudicial executions and 10 forced disappearances were reported, further saying: “State security forces were implicated in torture and other ill-treatment and at least 10 enforced disappearances. Political violence resulted in the death of at least four men. Women continued to be subjected to various forms of violence.”
On violence against women, the rights body said: “Women continued to be subjected to various forms of violence. These included acid attacks, murder for failing to pay the requested dowry, flogging for religious offences by illegal arbitration committees, domestic violence, and sexual violence.”
Aleya Begum and her daughter were arrested without a warrant on September 9 and were allegedly tortured at Khoksa police station in Kushtia. After two days, they were transferred to Kushtia Kotwali police station and kept in a dark room.
The daughter, a college student, was separated from her mother at night and sexually abused by the police officers. The two women were released on September 18, after appearing in court. Aleya and her daughter shared their story with the media, and were arrested and jailed again on September 26.
Amnesty also said the government failed to control the attacks on the minority communities such as the Hindus and the Buddhists. It further reported that the “indigenous” and the Bangalee settlers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts locked in fights, too.
UNB adds: While talking to reporters at Comilla Circuit House yesterday noon, law State Minister Quamrul Islam termed the report “one-sided, confusing and unacceptable.” On the other hand, State Minister for home affairs Shamsul Hoque Tuku said what the Amnesty International stated in its annual report about the extrajudicial killings, secret killings and torture on minorities in Bangladesh was not based on proper information.
Quamrul claimed that the Amnesty had intentionally been depicting the country’s human rights situation as worse for the last few years, especially since the present government assumed power, to destablise the government and create confusion.
He said the extrajudicial killings were perpetrated much lesser during the current regime than the past.
The state minister said the human rights body did not say specifically as to who carried out attacks on the worship places of the minorities.
Tuku said there were errors in the information provided by the rights body. “The law enforcers work for ensuring the security of public life and property. They use arms only when they come under attack by terrorists.
“If any death occurs by the members of law enforcement agencies, it is investigated and action is taken accordingly after investigation,” he said.
Regarding torture on the minority people, he said no incident of torture occurred under the present government’s patronage. “But, there had been many incidents of torture on the minorities under state patronage during the BNP regime.”
About the violence in Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar, Tuku said the government took legal action against the culprits.