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 Judges 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 Judges 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), Imans 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, Imans wife, Mrs. Rabeya Khatun, told the fact-finding team that the government is responsible for the killing of her husband. Likewise, Imans 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 Imans 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 victims 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.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE 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 Judges 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 Judges 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.com2. 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.org6. 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.orgThank you.
Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (
ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
