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BANGLADESH: Six persons arbitrarily arrested and one of them tortured to death by the Hathazari police in Chittagong district

July 2, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

3 July 2006
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UA-211-2006: BANGLADESH: Six persons arbitrarily arrested and one of them tortured to death by the Hathazari police in Chittagong district

BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest; torture; extra-judicial killing; collapse of rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Hathazari police in Chittagong District arbitrarily arrested six persons in the early morning of 29 June 2006. Among the six persons, a man named Mr. Rashed Ullah died next day as a result of the severe torture committed by Mr. Kamrul Islam, the Officer-in-Charge (O.C.) of the Hathazari Police Station. The alleged perpetrators have been intimidating the victim's family not to lodge a complaint about the incident. Also, the government authorities have not yet taken any action against the perpetrators. The deceased was the only breadwinner of his family of five members.

At around 3:00am on 29 June 2006, a police team led by Mr. Kamrul Islam, the Officer-in-Charge (O.C.) of the Hathazari Police Station, raided the houses of Uttar Madarsha village in Chittagong District. The police arrested six persons, including Mr. Rashed Ullah, during the raid. The police then took the arrested persons to the Hathazari Police Station and put them in the lock-up. While in police custody, Rashed was severely assaulted by the police and fell into a coma due to the torture. At around 9:30 am of the same day, the police took the victim to the Hathazari Thana Health Complex but he died within 10 minutes upon his arrival. The on-duty medical officer of the hospital, Dr. Mr. Fazle Rabbi, said that Rashed was in a serious condition when he was brought to the hospital and he saw several injuries all over Rashed's body.

Mr. Kamrul Islam, the O.C. of the Hathazari Police Station, said that they had arrested Rashed upon the allegation of his involvement in a robbery case. He further claimed that Rashed did not die due to the police torture but because of 'mass beating'. However, the O.C. did not explain how Rashed had been involved in this supposed 'mass beating' at 3:00am in the morning when most people were sleeping in their beds.

According to Rashed's mother, Mrs. Sayera Khatun, the police did not produce any arrest warrant when they arrested Rashed. Rashed's family also claim that the alleged perpetrators along with the local administration have been intimidating them not to lodge any case or complaint regarding the brutal incident. The family said that they were also bribed by the perpetrators who threatened them saying that if they do file a case then they would face further trouble.

Since his father passed away 11 years ago, Rashed was the only breadwinner of the family. He ran a tea stall during the daytime and worked as a rickshaw driver in the evenings. He lived with his mother and his three sisters. The local union council chairman, Mr. Abul Kashem said that Rashed was a very honest person and the village people said that Rashed had not been involved in any kind of crime.
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SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter immediately to the Prime Minister and the other persons listed below expressing your concern and urging them to take prompt action to investigate the conduct of the police to ensure that justice is attained for the victim's family. Please urge them to arrange appropriate protection for the family of the victim and highlight that necessary compensation must be afforded to them.

To support this appeal please click here:


Suggested letter:

Dear _______________

BANGLADESH: Man killed by the Hathazari police in Chittagong district

Name of victim:
1. Mr. Rashed Ullah (18), son of the late Mr. Dula Mian, living in Uttar Madarsha village under Hathazari police station in Chittagong district
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Kamrul Islam, Inspector and the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Hathazari police station in Chittagong district
2. Police personnel attached to the Hathazari police station in Chittagong district
Date of incident: 29 June 2006
Place of incident: Hathazari police station custody in Chittagong district

I am writing to bring to your attention the brutal torture and subsequent death of a man allegedly by the Hathazari police under the Chittagong district.

According to the information I have received, in the early hours of 29 June 2006, at around 3:00 am, a police team led by the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Hathazari police station, Mr. Kamrul Islam, raided the houses of Uttar Madarsha village in Chittagong District. The police arrested six persons, including Mr. Rashed Ullah, from their houses in that area. While in police custody, Rashed was severely beaten by the Hathazari police. As a result of the torture, Rashed received considerable injuries and became seriously sick. At around 9:30 am, the police took him to the Hathazari Thana Health Complex where he died within 10 minutes of arriving. The on-duty Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr. Mr. Fazle Rabbi, said that the victim was brought to the hospital in a serious condition and was covered in considerable injuries.

According to the victim's family, when the police came to arrest the victim, they did not produce any arrest warrant. I am aware that the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Hathazari police station, Mr. Kamrul Islam, could not given an adequate reason for the injuries all over Rashed's body his only excuse was that the victim's injuries were as a result of 'mass beating'. However, the OC did not explain how Rashed was involved in a 'mass beating' at 3:00 am when most people were sleeping.

I have learned that the local people, including the local Union Council Chairman, Mr. Abul Kashem, have confirmed that Rashed was a hardworking and honest man, who used to run his deceased father's tea stall during the day and pulled a rickshaw in the evenings. There are fears that the alleged perpetrator and the local administration are intimidating and threatening the deceased's family not to lodge a case regarding the torture. I am also aware that the alleged perpetrators are bribing Rashed's family to refrain from any further action against them.

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

I look forward to your urgent intervention in this matter.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mrs. Begum Khaleda Zia
Prime Minister
The Government of the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Old Parliament House,
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 8828160-79, 9888677
Fax: +880 2 8113244 or 3243 or 1015 or 1490

2. Mr. Md. Lutfozzaman Babor MP
State Minister
The Ministry of Home Affairs
The Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh
The Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7169069 (O) or 8359000 (R)
Fax: +880 2 7160405, +880 2 7164788

3. Mr. Sayed J. R. Modassir Hossain
The Chief Justice
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562792
Fax: +880 2 9565058

4. Mr. A J Mohammad Ali
Attorney General of Bangladesh
Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562868
Fax: +880 2 9561568

5. Mr. Abdul Quayum
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Bangladesh Police
Police Headquarters
Fulbaria, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562054 or 7176451 or 7176677 (O), +880 2 8362552 or 8362553 (R)
Fax: +880 2 9563362 or 9563363

6. Mr. Mesbah-un-Nabi
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG)
Chittagong Range
Bangladesh Police
Office of the DIG of Chittagong Range
Chittagong
BANGLADESH
Tel: +88 031 650120/+88 031 655466 (O)
Fax: +88 031 652111 (O)

7. 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

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

Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-211-2006
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.