BANGLADESH: Student political leader held in detention for 19 months without trial or specific charge

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) that Mr. Mahfuzul Haydar Chowdhury Roton was arbitrarily arrested on 16 January 2007 by the Joint Forces. The authorities have detained him in prison under the Special Powers Act-1974, without any trial for any specific charge. He was rearrested and detained despite the High Court Division of the Supreme Court granting him bail on two occasions. Following continuous protests from political activists he was released on 7 August 2008. Please ask the authorities to investigate into this incident of prolonged detention without trial and specific charge.

CASE DETAILS:

Mr. Mahfuzul Haydar Chowdhury Roton is a student of the Post Graduate Diploma in Health Economics at Dhaka University. He is also the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bangladesh Chhatra (student) League, the student wing of the mainstream opposition political party Bangladesh Awami League.

On 16 January 2007 members of the Joint Forces, comprising the officers of the armed forces and the police, arrested Roton and five political friends from Dhaka University in the central playground area. When he asked the joint forces team to show the arrest warrant as well as reason of arrest, they allegedly told him that they were taking him for interrogation but not arresting him. Then the Joint Forces team took him away to Shahbag Police station. Thereafter, he was arrested under section 16 (2) and 12 of the Emergency Powers Rules- 2007 and detained in Dhaka Central Jail without being produced before any Magistrate, even though there is constitutional obligation to produce any arrested person within 24 hours of arrest.

After a few days the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order, with a back date of 17 January 2007, of detention against Mr. Roton for 30 days under Section 3(1), 13 and 2(f) 14 of the Special Powers Act-1974. A Deputy Secretary (Security Cell) of the Home Ministry signed the order terming it as Detention Case Number 05/2007.

On January 24, while in detention in the Dhaka Central Jail Mr. Roton received an order from a Deputy Secretary (Security Cell-3) of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The order mentioned that he has been detained under Section 8 and 15 of the Special Powers Act-1974. It also mentioned that he was detained for his alleged involvement with harmful activities against Bangladesh, based on the observation and recommendation made by the Oficer-in-Charge (OC) of the Shahbagh Police Station and the Special Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the Special Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). The order further mentioned that Mr. Roton had allegedly influenced and mobilised the inhabitants of slums to join in a grand public rally at Muktangan area on 6 November 2006 from 5pm to 5:30pm, against the Rule of Law and the maintenance of law and order, along with his accomplices. The order also alleges that Roton was supporting terrorist activities, getting involved in destructive actions and was responsible for bombing and shooting in the Dhaka University campus area between 11:30am to 1:50pm on the 19 November 2006. The same order also mentioned that Mr. Roton had two cases against him, one with the Ramna Police Station (Case Number 44, dated 6 November 2006) and the other with the Paltan Police Station (Case Number 31, lodged in the same month) under Sections 147, 149, 332, 333, 325, 327, 307 and 143 of the Penal Code. The order explained that the crimes under the above mentioned sections of the Penal Code violate Section 2(f) and 16 of the Special Powers Act-1974. However, the authorities did not disclose further details regarding the allegations against Mr. Roton for the sake of public interest, according to the provision of the Special Powers Act-1974.

On the following month, Mr. Roton received another order signed by Mr. Mohammed Afzalur Rahman, a Senior Assistant Secretary attached to the Security Cell-3 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, dated 15 February 2007. The order mentioned that the authorities have extended the detention period for a further three months under Section 3(1) and 17 of the Special Powers Act-1974.

Meanwhile, a writ petition (Number 330/2007) was lodged with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Justice Mr. Md. Abdul Wahhab Miah and Justice Mr. Md. Emdadul Huq heard the petition on March 19 and passed an order on April 2 declaring that the detention of Roton was illegal and improper. The Court also issued a rule upon a number of officers of the government to respond to the Bench as to why the detention orders against the petitioner shall be declared illegal and improper. The respondents were the Government of Bangladesh, represented by the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs; (ii) Deputy Secretary (Nira) Nirapatta Shakha-03, Ministry of Home affairs; (iii) Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka; (iv) Jailor of the Dhaka Central Jail; (v) Deputy Jailor of the Dhaka Central Jail; and (vi) Inspector General of the Bangladesh Police.

As a result of prolonged detention in an unhygienic environment of prison Roton became sick and the authorities of the Dhaka Central Jail on 29 October admitted him to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he received treatment until 26 November. Later, he was transferred to the Mymensing Central Jail.

On November 7, an Advisory Board, constituted by government at the High Court according to Section 9 of the Special Powers Act-1974, released five other political mates of Roton who were also arrested and detained together with him. However, the Board extended Roton’s detention order for three more months.

On November 25, Roton’s father Mr. Afser Uddin Haydar Chowdhury appealed to the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs requesting to release his son for better treatment, as he reportedly became sick in prison.

On 24 January 2008, the Advisory Board at the High Court extended the detention order for an additional three months.

On February 17, Roton’s father organized a press conference demanding the release of his son.

Following the government’s decision to release Roton the Mymensing Central Jail authority released him at around 4:15pm on May 4. As soon as Roton came out of the prison’s gate the Mymensing Kotwali police arrested him and detained in the police station even though Roton was seriously sick at that time. Later, the police admitted Roton to the Coronary Care Unit of the Mymensing Medical College Hospital for chest pain.

On May 11, the District Magistrate of Mymensing again ordered to detain Roton for 30 days in Detention Case Number 10 (5)/08-336. The following day, Roton received a copy of the order, which mentioned that he has been detained under Section 8 of the Special Powers Act-2007 for his alleged involvement in harmful activities against Bangladesh under Section 3(2) and 18 of the same Act. Referring to a General Diary No. 219 dated 4 May 2008 with the Kotwali police lodged under Section 16(2) and 19 of the Emergency Powers Rules-2007 the order termed Roton a terrorist cadre and mentioned that the people are aggrieved with him and they hate him. The order accused him of having involvement in terrorist activities including influencing and mobilizing slum-dwellers to break law and order in the country, and such activities violate Section 3(2) and 20 of the Special Powers Act-1974.

On June 4, Roton was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Mymensing for the alleged charge brought against him in General Diary No. 219 under Section 16(2) and 21 of the Emergency Powers Rules-2007.

On June 9, the authorities extended the detention order against Roton for another three months while he was already detained in the Mymensing Central Jail.

On July 31, the High Court Division of the Supreme Court again granted bail to Roton following a writ petition and declared his detention order illegal and improper. The Court also directed the concerned authorities to release him immediately.

Following the High Court order Roton was released from the Mymensing Central Jail on August 5 at 2:10pm. But, the police of the Mymensing Kotwali police station arrested him again at the jail gate as soon as he was freed from the prison.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League made continuous protests and demonstrations, demanding the release of Mr. Mahfuzul Haydar Chowdhury Roton, despite the state of emergency in effect in the country. They also staged a 24-hour hunger strike on August 3 for Roton’s release. The demonstrators also kept the Vice Chancellor of the Dhaka University confined for a few hours in his office. On August 5, the Vice Chancellor (VC)  Prof. SMA Fayez immediately arranged a meeting with the head of the government and some top officials in order to discuss the issue of releasing the detained student leader. After the meeting with the government the VC informed the demonstrators that the government will release Roton by August 7. The Government accordingly released Mr. Roton at about 2:30pm from the Mymensing Medical Colleage Hospital where he was receiving treatment under the detention.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The Special Powers Act-1974 is a tool in the hands of the authority to abuse their power arbitrarily against the persons the government wants to apply the Act. Since the State of Emergency was imposed on 11 January 2007 the military-controlled government started crackdowns in the country and randomly implicated people under this Act.

Apart from very arbitrary nature of the whole Special Powers Act-1974 the clauses of it authorizes the government not to be transparent about the allegations they bring against the person implicated with this Act “for the sake of public interest”. Thus, the issue of public interest has been made a twisted joke and the law always has been used to arrest and detain anybody targeted by the Police, or intelligence agencies, when they have no reasonable ground or charge against the person.

In Roton’s case, the law-enforcers did not submit any investigation report to any court of the country even though they accused him in two cases under the Ramna and Paltan police stations of the Dhaka city. Rather, the Ministry of Home Affairs consecutively detained him under the Special Powers Act-1974 by extending the detention order one after another for more than 19 months since his arrest.

The law-enforcing agencies of Bangladesh arrest people in front of the prison gate as soon as the person comes out of the jail after having been granted bail from the courts, including the Supreme Court. In almost all cases the police or intelligence agencies arrest people without any specific charge against the person, instead of merely lodging a General Diary with an intention of denying the person’s right to liberty and security.

The practice of re-arresting people has been so frequent in the country, as a culture of abusing power, that the Supreme Court warned and rebuked the police officers as well as charging them for contempt of court in the past. The Supreme Court Bar Association of Bangladesh also recently staged a protest against this practice. However, the police and other law enforcement agencies do not have even minimum respect for the highest court’s orders. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has also appeared indifferent and ineffective in taking any strict action against the officers responsible for taking such unlawful decisions, and executing the same as well.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the relevant authorities to investigate into this alleged incident of prolonged arbitrary arrest and detention asking them to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice in accordance with the law.

Please be informed that the AHRC has also written separate letters to UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for intervention in this case.

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