HRW: Stop kneecapping detainees

Security forces in Bangladesh are deliberately shooting members and supporters of opposition parties in the leg, Human Rights Watch has said in a report. In the 45-page report, “‘No Right to Live’: ‘Kneecapping’ and Maiming of Detainees by Bangladesh Security Forces,” published yesterday, the group said it had collected evidence from 25 individuals, mostly members and supporters of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, who said that police shot them in the leg without provocation. Several of the victims are permanently disabled, including some who had their legs amputated after being shot. Many described being beaten before being shot. Victims told HRW that police shot them in custody and then falsely claimed that they were shot in self-defense, in crossfire with armed criminals or during violent protests. “Security forces in Bangladesh have long killed detainees in fake ‘crossfire killings,’ pretending the victim was killed when the authorities took him back to the scene of the crime and were attacked by one of his accomplices,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Now they’re engaging in ‘kneecappings’ of people they have arrested, apparently because they belong to or support an opposition party.” Most victims were unwilling to be identified, fearing arbitrary arrest, disappearance, torture, or extrajudicial killing, HRW said. The group called upon Bangladesh authorities to order prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into all alleged “kneecappings” and other deliberate infliction of serious injuries by members of the security forces. The government should also invite the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN special rapporteurs on torture and extrajudicial executions to investigate kneecappings and other alleged acts of torture and make appropriate recommendations to ensure justice, accountability, and security force reform, it said. According to HRW, Mahbub Kabir, who worked in the marketing department of the pro-Jamaat daily Naya Diganta, was captured and shot in front of witnesses, but the police later filed criminal cases against him, HRW said. Kneecappings appear to have started after violent street protests in early 2013. Activists have told the group they believe Bangladesh authorities adopted the practice of kneecapping in part to dissuade people from participating in street protests. Violence broke out again in the months preceding the January 2014 general elections when opposition supporters used petrol bombs and targeted the public to enforce strikes and economic blockades. Security forces responded fiercely, targeting both protesters and bystanders. Human Rights Watch said it had documented many cases of arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings during this period and since.