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BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest and extra-judicial killing by the Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka

March 26, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

27 March 2006
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UA-106-2006: BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest and extra-judicial killing by the Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka

BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest and detention; torture; extra-judicial killing
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man was killed by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-4 in the name of ‘crossfire’ on 9 March 2006. The man was arrested by the RAB at around 11:00am on March 8 while he was walking out of the Session Judge’s Court of Dhaka after attending an ongoing trial in the court. The family of the victim alleges that they found several injury marks over the dead body when it was handed over to them. He was married with a wife and three children. 

On 8 March 2006, Md. Masudur Rahman (alias Iman Ali), who was the general secretary of the Awami Jubo League of Savar upazilla unit and a businessman by profession, left his village home to attend a trial at the Session Judge’s Court in Dhaka. The case (Number: 53, date: 31 December 2000, section: 302 Penal Code) was filed against him and he was bailed by the Court later on. When he came out of the court the intelligence wing of the RAB arrested him. The following morning (March 9), Iman’s dead body was found in a field at Khagain village, around one kilometre away from his home. The Savar police recovered the body for autopsy and handed it over to Iman's family at around 4pm on the same day.

On March 11, Iman’s wife, Mrs. Rabeya Khatun, told the fact-finding team that the government is responsible for the killing of her husband. Likewise, Iman’s brother, Mr. Nazrul Islam, told the fact-finder that this was a blatant killing, not ‘crossfire’. “Two bullets entered into the left side of the chest and exited from the back while another bullet exited through the right of the back after entering into the chest; all three bullets hit from the front side of the body.” Nazrul also claims that his brother had been electrocuted before being killed after seeing burns to his brother's back and right hand. There was also swelling around the right ear, a bruise on the right side of the face and a hole in the toe of the right foot. Quoting eyewitnesses, Mr. Nazrul said that security guards, who were on duty in front of the Panna,Textile Mills, witnessed the RAB personnel shoot five rounds of blank fire after having already shot Iman.

Mr. Nazrul also alleges that the RAB personnel stole a gold chain, two gold rings, a mobile phone and about Taka twenty thousand from Iman during the arrest. He claimed that his brother was extremely popular and a reputed personality in the locality. However, he also noted that political opponents lodged 12 cases against Iman of which he was released from 11. On the day of arrest Iman went to attend the trial of the last case in which the plaintiff himself urged the court to grant bail to him while Iman’s name was implicated as a result of conspiracy.

Meanwhile, the RAB authority issued a press release from its headquarters claiming that Md. Masudur Rahman Iman was a wanted criminal of the Savar police. Following a long interrogation by the RAB-4 Iman admitted that he had illegal arms in his possession, the RAB claimed. When the RAB force took Iman to Akrain village under Savar police station, nearby the Panna Textile Mills to recover the arms, associates of Iman, opened fire on RAB, according to them. Iman was subsequently killed by ‘crossfire’ during the ‘encounter’ between the RAB and the associates of the deceased. The Savar police have lodged a case of Unnatural Death with the police station regarding this incident.

The victim’s family informed the fact-finding team that they want to sue the RAB personnel so long as their security can be ensured.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the persons listed below asking them to conduct an impartial investigation into the arbitrary arrest, torture and extra-judicial killing of Masudur Rahman (alias Iman Ali). Please urge them to establish all the perpetrators involved. Please highlight that if the alleged perpetrators are found guilty, they must be punished exemplarily. Please ask the authorities to ensure appropriate protection and security for the family of Iman. The family should also be afforded appropriate compensation for the loss they have suffered. Finally, please also urge the Bangladesh government authority to stop the extra-judicial killings by their law enforcing agents in the name of 'crossfire', 'encounter' and 'line of fire' in the country.

Suggested letter:

Dear _______________, 

BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest and extra-judicial killing of a man by the Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka

Name of the victim: Md. Masudur Rahman alias Iman Ali (37), son of the late Mr. Suruz Mondol, married with three children, living in Akran village under Savar police station in Dhaka district
Name of the alleged perpetrators: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-4 personnel
Date and time of arrest: 8 March 2006 at 11:00am
Place of arrest: Dhaka Judge’s Court premises
Date and time of killing: 9 March 2006 at around 3:30am

I am writing to bring to your attention the alleged extra-judicial killing of a man by soldiers of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)- 4 at Savar in Dhaka on 9 March 2006.

According to the information I have received, Md. Masudur Rahman (alias Iman Ali) went to attend a trial at the Session Judge’s Court in Dhaka on March 8. At around 12pm when Iman came out of the Courtroom the intelligence wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested him at the court premises. The following morning (March 9) villagers found the dead body of Iman in a field at Khagain village under Savar police station. The police recovered the dead body and a post mortem was conducted in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). The dead body was handed over to the family for burial in the afternoon on the same day. I have been informed that the dead body had burn wounds, swelling around the right ear, a bruise on the right side of the face and a hole in the toe of the right foot. The family members of the deceased have alleged that the RAB killed Iman in a preplanned attack; the death was not 'crossfire' or 'encounter', as the law enforcers claim. 

In light of this, I request that you ensure a fair and thorough investigation into the alleged conduct of the RAB personnel.  If it is found that the alleged perpetrators committed crimes against the victim, then they must be held accountable for their actions and if found guilty, indicted under the prevailing domestic laws of Bangladesh.  

The RAB authority must compensate the family of the victim for the loss they have suffered.  During the investigation protection must be afforded to the family of the victim as well as the witnesses of the incident. 

The repeated incidents of so-called 'crossfire', 'encounter' or 'line of fire' in Bangladesh by the RAB and the police indicates that there is no rule of law and that the government itself does not have sufficient faith in the existing judicial, prosecution or law enforcing systems in the country. The situation requires immediate reform to the existing legal system in order to maintain law and order and rule of law. Without changes to the system and the attitudes of law enforcing agents, heinous crimes committed by the very people who are supposed to uphold the rule of law will no doubt continue to occur.
Therefore, I urge you and other government officials in Bangladesh to consider reforming your current law enforcement system by introducing better training programmes for the officers of the law enforcing agents and to make them more accountable for the abuses they have committed against ordinary citizens of Bangladesh.

I look forward to your urgent intervention in this matter.
 
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. M A Aziz Sarkar
Director General (DG)
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
RAB Headquarter
Uttara, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +88-02- 8961105 (O)
Fax: +88-02- 8962884 (O)
Cell: +88 011-816205, +88 011-818245, +88 0172993105
E-mail: rabhqbd@yahoo.com

2. Mr. Md. Lutfozzaman Babor MP
State Minister
The Ministry of Home Affairs
Government of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh
The Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +88-02-7169069 (O) or 8359000 (R)
Fax: +88-02-7160405, +88-02-7164788

3. Mr. A J Mohammad Ali
The Attorney General of Bangladesh
The Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +88-02-9562868
Fax: +88-02-9561568

4. Mr. Sayed J. R. Modassir Hossain
The Chief Justice
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +88-02-9562792
Fax: +88-02-9565058

5. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Atten: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016, c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (general)
Email: lventre@ohchr.org

6. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr.Safir Syed
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel:+41 22 917 9230
Fax:+41 22 9179016 (general)
E-mail: ssyed@ohchr.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-106-2006
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.