Hasina, some top officials involved in overseeing enforced disappearance: HRW

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found involvement of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and some top military and civil officers in overseeing the enforced disappearances of the individuals.

“Hasina, as well as top officials Major General (Retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique and Major General Ziaul Ahsan, and senior police officers, were involved in overseeing the disappearances,” it said.

The US based human rights watchdog said in its recently released 50-page report titled, “After the Monsoon Revolution: A Roadmap to Lasting Security Sector Reform in Bangladesh.”

The national commission investigating on enforced disappearance issued its first report on 14 December, estimating that over 3,500 enforced disappearances had been carried out under the Sheikh Hasina government.

“Officers involved in enforced disappearances also told Human Rights Watch that Sheikh Hasina and senior members of her government had knowledge of incommunicado detentions,” said the HRW.

Shortly after Hasina fled the country, three men were released from secret detention centers and in all three cases, authorities had for years denied having them in custody, it said.

Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, a lawyer, described the facility where he was held as having been “meticulously designed to give the detainees a worse than death experience”.

The report issued by the national disappearances inquiry found that torture “was not only systematic but also institutionalised.”

“The government should act on the recommendation of the national commission of inquiry to disband the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a counterterrorism unit of seconded police and military personnel that has been responsible for numerous extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances,” said the HRW in its report.

In response to the report’s findings, it also said that the RAB chief AKM Shahidur Rahman acknowledged the unit’s secret detention centres and stated that RAB would accept the decision if the interim government sought to disband the unit.

Mentioning that Bangladesh has a long history of divisive politics, which can seep into law enforcement, the HRW said, “The interim government should establish independent civilian oversight over law enforcement, including through the national human rights commission, with authority to carry out unannounced inspections of all places of detention.”