Families of victims in fear, allege police coercion

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A family member of a victim of enforced disappearance tearfully addresses a broadcast held at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday to protest the harassment of victims’ families by law enforcement. — Sourav Lasker

Families of the forcibly disappeared and human rights activists on Saturday again accused the Rapid Action Battalion, among others, of abducting them, alleging police are now trying to show the enforced disappearances as “disappeared” cases. and to blame the victims themselves for their disappearance.

Following repeated visits by the police to the homes of forcibly disappeared persons and their reported appeals to their families, Maayer Daak, a platform of families of victims of enforced disappearance, organized a protest program at the National Press Club on Saturday. of the capital.

At the protest, the families described how police allegedly tried in recent weeks to force them to sign written statements contradicting the facts.

Families said they were scared as officers constantly asked them to come to police stations with missing newspapers or complaints while visiting their homes in the dead of night in the name of the investigation.

Two of the families said they had not received copies of their signed statements taken by the police.

Afroza Islam Ankhi, one of the founders of Maayer Daak, alleged that the police did not accept their family’s complaint following the disappearance of his brother, and others across the country in the past.

His brother Sajedul Islam Sumon, a BNP leader, and seven others are still missing after RAB-1 members allegedly arrested them a week before national elections on January 5, 2014.

“Many of us did not file a general log because the police told us that if we wrote that the RAB had taken them away, no GD would be registered,” she said.

She added that the police are now taunting the families by accusing them of hiding information.

Ankhi called on the police to help the families so that they can find their missing loved ones and the perpetrators can be held accountable in the case of those who were killed.

“We demand an independent investigation into these disappearances,” she said, calling on the government to allow the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to visit Bangladesh.

Farzana Akhter, wife of missing BNP activist Parvej Hossain, said a police team from Bangshal police station in the capital, accompanied by a local Awami League leader, went to the home of her husband to gather information about her missing husband and asked her whereabouts.

“I was at my father’s house and a cop asked me to visit him at the restaurant. I refused and said you better try to find my husband,” she added.

Her husband was forcibly disappeared in December 2013.

Nasrin Jahan Smriti, wife of Ismail Hossain, a merchant based in Mirpur, said a navy official assigned to the Rapid Action Battalion was behind his enforced disappearance in Mirpur on June 19, 2019.

She mentioned that the RAB had publicly stated that it would take action if it received an official request.

“Over the years, I have knocked on every door possible to find my husband. I have gone to the RAB and the police. The police said they would not receive the complaint as long as the matter was related to the RAB…I’m really fed up with my country and its system,” she said, adding, “Now the police have come to our company and asked if my husband is really missing. funny!’

Zahid Khan Shakil, brother of opposition political leader Mahbub Hasan Sujon, who disappeared in December 2013, said police insisted his father sign a statement in which they did not mention how his brother was abducted by officers security on the outskirts of the capital.

As her father went through the statement, found inconsistencies and refused to sign it, the police misbehaved with the entire family, Zahid added.

After the stories were told, Asif Nazrul, a law professor at the University of Dhaka, said that since enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity, families of victims can sue the kidnappers at any point in their lives.

He also advised families to write down the names of police officers who harassed families, saying they should also be prosecuted.

The law professor said the action had to be systematic and large-scale in order to prove the crime against humanity, adding that both elements were available in these cases.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, head of Nagorik Oikya, advised family members not to give in to police pressure to sign the statement they wrote so that the perpetrators could not be spared.

He saw the police as trying to produce evidence for the oppressors to ensure their impunity.

Rights activist Nur Khan Liton alleged that the police were trying to collect the desired versions from the families of the victims to save the perpetrators.

He called on the government to launch a credible investigation into reports of missing persons.

Jatiya Mukti Council Secretary General Fayzul Hakim Lala said they saw Pakistani occupation forces abducting people in 1971, adding that the Rakkhi Bahini were also behind similar incidents between 1972 and 1975 , while the same pattern of disappearances has been going on for over a decade during which society has expressed anguish over extrajudicial executions in the name of “shootout” or “crossfire.”

Ganosamhati coordinator Andolon Zonayed Saki, Odhikar ASM director Nasiruddin Elan and National Press Club secretary Elias Khan, among others, expressed their solidarity with the protesters.

In its working group’s report, released on December 6, the United Nations said that “allegations of enforced disappearances, including those made by members of the RAB, must be promptly investigated and those responsible prosecuted. “.

Around 600 people are believed to have disappeared since 2009 and the fate of at least 86 could not be confirmed so far, the UN group said, citing different sources.

After a meeting, the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order said on Wednesday that it had decided to write to the United States government about the recent sanctions imposed on seven of the current and former leaders of the action battalion. quick with “correct facts” about the allegations. against officials.

On December 30, 2021, Justice Minister Anisul Huq said the government was investigating each of the 76 cases pending with the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed, a former RAB chief, in an interview given to a private television station in December 2021 following US sanctions against him and six others, however claimed to have received a list of 20 case of enforced disappearance by the United Nations and they had found the victims in their respective homes.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police said on Friday it investigated every major issue and took legal action after completing investigations, but, it added, calling police work harassment amounts to a non-cooperation with police investigations.

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