BANGLADESH: Three men allegedly tortured by soldiers in Khulna; one dead

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that three men were allegedly tortured by the Army deployed in Paikgachha, Khulna district, Bangladesh, after their arbitrary arrests on 17 January 2007. One of the three men namely Mr. Amanullah alias Aman (40) died in the army custody within 27 hours after his arrest, while were sent to hospital due to severe injuries caused by alleged torture. On January 19, the army reportedly suspended all treatment facilities at the Paikgachha hospital for the entire day in order to keep the media and relatives away from witnessing Mr. Amanullah’s body. It is reported that the army is compelling the medical doctors of the hospital to declare that the victim died due to “cardio respiratory failure”. The government authorities have not taken any action against the alleged perpetrators. Meanwhile, the other two men arrested were found to be ‘untraced’ until January 22 and sent to jail on January 23. Due to an ongoing state of emergency the security forces have been deployed across the country and fundamental rights of people have been subsequently suspended. The professionals, including journalists and human rights defenders, are living in serious fear.

CASE DETAILS:

A military crackdown started in Bangladesh since 11 January 2007 following the proclamation of a state of emergency in the country by the President, Professor Iazuddin Ahmed. Around 55,000 soldiers, excluding the police, the Rapid Action Battalion and other security forces, are under orders to hunt the ‘criminals’ in the country. Hundreds of people, including political activists, wanted suspects and small businessmen, are being arrested and detained on a daily basis by the law-enforcing agents and security forces.

On 17 January 2007 at around 7:00 pm, three pickup vans of the Bangladesh Army arrived at the Kopilmuni Bazar under the jurisdiction of the Paikgachha police station in in Khulna district, Bangladesh. The military arrested Mr. Amanullah alias Aman (40) along with two other persons namely Mr. Abdul Gafur (38) and Mr. Basu Dev (32). The soldiers started beating the three men at the time of arrest.

The army then took them to the temporary local army camp at the “Lona Pani Motso Gobeshana (Saline Water Fisheries Research) Institute”, the Paikgachha police station in Khulna district. Mr. Amanullah was detained in the military camp overnight and was allegedly subjected to brutal torture. On the following day on January 18, his physical condition deteriorated and he lost consciousness. At around 10:00 pm, Mr. Amanullah’s dead body was brought to the Paikgachha Upazilla Health Complex, the only government hospital in the town, where the on duty medical doctors declared him dead. A medical doctor, on condition of anonymity, revealed that the victim was dead before he had been taken to the hospital by the Army personnel. The victim’s death occurred within 27 hours of having been arrested.

It was alleged that the Army kept the Paikgachha Upazilla Health Complex confined for the whole day on January 19 while the inquest report was prepared by Sub Inspector Mr. Masuduzzaman in presence of the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Paikgachha police station, Mr. Kazi Ahsan Habib, the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Mr. Md. Yunus Ali, Commanding Officer of the Army at Paikgachha, Major Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Warrant Officer of the Army, Mr. Tajul Islam and a Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr. Anup Kumar Das. It was alleged that the inquest report was prepared by a police officer instead of a magistrate, in violation of Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The hospital, including the Emergency Medical Treatment unit, was completely suspended for the whole day for the public. The soldiers refused all patients who came to receive medical treatment at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Paikgachha police lodged an Unnatural Death (UD) case with the same police station regarding Mr. Amanullah’s death. The Paikgachha police claim that the victim had about five cases against him with the police station, while Mr. Gafur and Mr. Dev are on the “Criminal List” of the police. However, the police have not provided any details about it.

It was alleged that the Army officers have been pressuring the medical officers of the Khulna General Hospital into preparing a false post-mortem report declaring Mr. Amanullah’s death was “due to cardio respiratory failure”. The post-mortem was conducted by a team headed by the Civil Surgeon of Khulna, Dr. Ham-e-Jamal, and two other medical officers, according to the local sources.

Mr. Amanullah’s relatives and the persons who were present during the funeral bath say that they witnessed several injuries all over his body. They suspect that he died of being tortured by the Army personnel. On January 19, Mr. Amanullah’s body was buried in his family graveyard in the evening.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gafur and Mr. Dev were found untraced until January 22 since their arrest on January 17. It was learnt that following deterioration of their health due to brutal torture in army custody, the alleged perpetrators admitted both of them at the hospital in the Khulna city on 19 January evening maintaining top secrecy. The two men received medical treatment there for a couple of days. On January 22, the army handed over them to the Paikgachha police who produced them before the Paikgachha Upazilla Magistrate’s Cognizance Court on the following day on January 23, under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court ordered to remand them to jail.

Due to fear for security and ongoing state of emergency and severe censorship on publishing news criticizing the government, the news of Mr. Amanullah’s death has not been published in any local media. There is no record of his death with the local hospital, according to the local sources report.

Under the circumstances, local journalists and human rights defenders are living in extreme fear due to the military crackdown. The local sources also allege that the military has been beating people indiscriminately, including vegetable vendors and rickshaw pullers on the street for their alleged faulty measurement scale and possessing streets respectively.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

This is the fifth time Bangladesh has declared a state of emergency. Beyond the state of emergency the military had been deployed regularly; during the general elections across the country; and during natural disasters in different parts of the country at different times. In the recent past, Bangladesh experienced a devastating situation in a disposal of 86 days, from 16 October 2002 to 9 January 2003, when armed forces were deployed without any state of emergency or natural disaster. The outgoing Four Party Alliance government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) deployed the armed forces in the name of “Operation Clean Heart (OCH)” to maintain law and order; recover illegal arms and catch wanted criminals. The OCH took more than 50 innocent lives, and more than 11,000 arbitrary arrests and detentions for different periods during 86 days crackdown among which only around 800 persons had cases against them. The then government awarded blanket impunity to the forces despite the disastrous consequence during the OCH. Besides, the law-enforcers traditionally enjoy impunity from the government despite grave human rights violations in almost everyday. Such culture of impunity inspires the law-enforcers and the security forces of the country to violate human rights through brutal torture and extra-judicial killings. There is serious fear among the concerned professionals regarding the human rights situation.

The Magistrates, who are controlled by the Home Ministry, do not consider or verify the fact by their own conscience and authority during the production of persons having been arbitrarily arrested by the law-enforcers. They detain the arrested persons responding the law-enforcing agents, instead, responding to the victims. The lawyers also do not fight for the innocent victims of arbitrary arrests; sometimes, they fear the Army and the Rapid Action Battalion, and sometimes avoid clash with the law-enforcing agents forecasting future problems and difficulties they may suffer. As a result, the victims never get justice from the beginning to the end in most of the cases.  

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), the sister organization of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), has documented the graveness of the human rights situation of Bangladesh in its bimonthly publication, article 2 (Vol. 5, No. 4, August 2006). Please refer to the report titled “Lawless law enforcement and the parody of judiciary in Bangladesh”. Please also see the 2006 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Bangladesh.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter immediately to the relevant Bangladesh government authorities listed below urging them to take prompt action to investigate the conduct of the Army in the alleged arbitrary arrest, torture, detention and death of Amanullah. Please also send your letters to the relevant UN agencies listed below.

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