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UPDATE (Bangladesh): Court dismissed Santa's another case against the policemen

November 9, 2006

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

9 November 2006

[RE: UP-183-2006: BANGLADESH: Santa's life is under extreme threat of death now; UP-181-2006:Santa’s family facing harassment by the Wazirpur police in Barisal; UP-114-2006: Safety measures must be taken to ensure the lives of Shahin Sultana Santa and her husband; UP-112-2006: Court dismisses charges against alleged perpetrators; UP-101-2006: Judicial Probe Commission ignores specific complaint against the Mohammadpur police; UP-096-2006: Court orders supplementary investigation following disputed Judicial Probe Commission report; UP-083-2006: Police defy High Court order by continuing to make threats; UP-062-2006: Harassment and threats continue towards victim despite a High Court ruling ordering the alleged perpetrators to stop; UP-058-2006: Police seriously intimidate and threaten victim, her husband and her witnesses; UA-105-2006: Pregnant woman tortured by police in Dhaka]
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UP-207-2006: BANGLADESH: Court dismissed Santa's another case against the policemen

BANGLADESH: Denial of justice; violation of right to fair trial; torture; fabrication of charges; constant threats and intimidation; lack of witness protection; denial of trial; un-rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a torture victim Mrs. Shahin Sultana Santa has been deprived of the right to justice as the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka discharged her case against the alleged police perpetrators. The magistrate also rejected her appeal for a judicial probe. She had requested it, expressing that she had no confidence in the police investigation report. This is the second time the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court dismissed Santa's case against her torture perpetrators.

According to the latest information, on 27 September 2006 Santa went to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court of Dhaka to attend the hearing of her case, following the submission of the investigation report by Mr. Kawsar Ahmed Haidari, the Additional Special Superintendent of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Santa's lawyer objected to the police investigation report saying that his client (Santa) has no confidence in it as any investigation against police officers by fellow police officers cannot be trusted.

However, at the end of the hearing, the Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka, Mr. Baki Billah, dismissed Santa's case filed against her torture perpetrators, on the ground that the complaint was not proven according to the police investigation report. The Magistrate also rejected Santa's appeal for further investigation by a judicial probe commission into her case. This is the second time of the dismissal of the case against the accused by the court in Santa's case, although a judicial probe commission headed by Magistrate Mr. Shafik Anwar asserted that Santa was in fact tortured by the police.

The judicial probe commission did state that the police, who believed the complainant (Santa) to be a political picketer, applied excessive force which was unnecessary. The commission also said that had Santa been declared a political picketer, she should have been arrested and produced in court but that the police did not do so.  Therefore their conduct in this case is a cognizable offence falling under the Bangladesh Penal Code. However, the Judge of the Fourth Special Tribunal for Women and Children Repression of Dhaka, Mrs. Kaniz Akhter Nasirina Khanam, dismissed Santa's case against the concerned police officers on 21 May 2006. To learn more this matter, please see our appeal: UP-112-2006.

On 2 November 2006, Santa's husband as well as her lawyer Mr. Atiur Rahman lodged a revision petition with the Metropolitan Session Judge's Court of Dhaka challenging the order of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court. The Judge, Mr. Momin Ullah Patwari admitted the revision petition and fixed a date for a full hearing of the case on 4 January 2007.

To briefly recap Santa's case, Santa' who was pregnant at that time, was severely assaulted by the Dhaka Metropolitan police in broad daylight on the street on 12 March 2006. Due to the assault, she had a miscarriage. Santa and her husband have been struggling to get justice since then. (Please also see our previous appeals on this case: UA-105-2006, UP-058-2006, UP-062-2006, UP-083-2006, UP-096-2006, UP-101-2006, UP-112-2006, UP-114-2006, UP-181-2006 and UP-183-2006).

The AHRC is extremely disappointed by the government's long and deep silence on this matter despite repeated complaints by Santa as well as the AHRC. Meanwhile, Santa and her family have been facing constant and serious threats since they began their cases against the policemen. Dismissal of cases against torture perpetrators carries the message that the judiciary of Bangladesh has totally collapsed and corrupted and that it allows torture to be continued by awarding impunity to the perpetrators. This is in contrast with their mandate described by law. 

Furthermore, the Bangladesh government has utterly failed to take any action against the alleged perpetrators and provide any protection to Santa's family despite the order of the High Court Bench on 28 March 2006 prohibiting any intimidation or harassment to the victim and her husband. Santa and her husband's security are at high risk and they always fear for their lives.
 
To see more on the collapse of the justice system in detail, please see the special report titled "Lawless law enforcement and the parody of judiciary in Bangladesh" published by the AHRC's sister organization, the Asian Legal Recourse Centre (ALRC) in August 2006 (Article 2, Vol. 5, No. 4). Santa's case has been also documented in this report in pages 63-67 (Case number: 17).


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the relevant Bangladesh authorities listed below and urge them to intervene into this case immediately. Please urge them to take action to ensure speedy and fair trials as well as the security of Santa and her husband.
 
Sample letter:

Dear ____________,

BANGLADESH: Court dismissed Santa's another case against the policemen

Name of the victims:
1. Mrs. Shahin Sultalna Santa, wife of Mr. Atiur Rahman, living in house no. 7/A, road no. 10, Mohammadia Housing Society under the Mohammadpur police station in Dhaka
2. Mr. Atiur Rahman, a lawyer by profession, Santa's husband
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Police officers belonging to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, who were involved in torturing Santa on 12 March 2006
2. Criminals who are believed to be hired by the alleged perpetrators to threat the victims
Case status: Court already dismissed Santa's case against her torture perpetrators twice; her cases is dragged on and on in violation of fair and speedy trial; the victims face constant and serious threats

I am extremely disappointed to learn about another court's dismissal of the case filed by the victim Santa against her alleged torture perpetrators. 

According to the information I have received, on 27 September 2006 the Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka, Mr. Baki Billah, discharged the accused of the case filed by Santa on the ground that the complaint was not proven according to the investigation report submitted by the Additional Special Superintendent of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Mr. Kawsar Ahmed Haidari.

I am also disturbed to learn that the magistrate further rejected Santa's appeal for a judicial prove in the case due to her lack of confidence in the police investigation report.

As far as I know, this is the second time that the court has dropped the charges against the police relating to Santa's torture case. Prior to this decision, on 21 May 2006 the Judge of the Fourth Special Tribunal for Women and Children Repression of Dhaka, Mrs. Kaniz Akhter Nasirina Khanam, dismissed the charge against the accused of the case filed by Santa.

I am shocked to know that all these court decisions against justice for the victim were made despite an assertion of a judicial probe commission headed by Magistrate Shafik Anwar that Santa was in fact tortured by the police. The probe commission did state that the police applied excessive and unnecessary force against Santa instead of following lawful procedures.

On 2 November 2006, Santa’s husband as well as her lawyer Mr. Atiur Rahman lodged a revision petition to challenge the order of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (CMM) Court with the Metropolitan Session Judge's Court of Dhaka. I was informed that the case was admitted by the Judge Momin Ullah Patwari and the date for a full case hearing was set up for 4 January 2007, two months ahead. 

This illustrates how much the case is being unduly and excessively delayed in Bangladesh courts, while the victims of state violence, their family members and witnesses are facing tremendous threats and intimidation frequently from the alleged perpetrators. However, no witness protection mechanism exists in the country. I am also aware that the criminal investigation and prosecution systems remain far below the international standards and cannot meet the need of the people.

Under the circumstances, I strongly call for your urgent and affirmative intervention into this matter. Please take immediate and strong action to ensure a speedy and fair trial in Santa's case. I also urge you to ensure that effective protection is given to the victim and her husband to prevent them from further harassment and threats.

Lastly, I urge the Government of Bangladesh to reform its existing judicial system in a way to separate the judiciary from the executive. I also urge the Government to establish an independent avenue where crimes allegedly committed by state actors are fairly and properly investigated. The prosecutors' offices must also be reformed to meet the international standards as well as the dire needs of the people who are struggling for justice.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Prof. Iajuddin Ahmed
President & Chief Adviser
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangabhaban, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9568041, 7161501/A, 8311202/ 7161503/A
Fax: +880 2 9566242 or 9566593

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

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

4. Mr. Khoda Bokhs Chowdhury
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Bangladesh Police
Police Headquarters’
Fulbaria, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562054(O)/ +880 2 7176451/ +880 2 7176677
Fax: +880 2 9563362 (O)/ +880 2 9563363

5. Prof. Manfred Nowak
UN 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)

6. Ms. Yakin Erturk
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
c/o Ms. Vernonica Birga
Room 3-042
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9615
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (Attn: Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women)

7. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Att: Sonia Cronin
Room: 3-060
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9160
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR INDEPENDENCE JUDGES & LAWYERS)


Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-207-2006
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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.