BANGLADESH: Journalist tortured in police vehicle in Rangpur

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the health and security of a journalist who was extensively tortured by the Kotowali police in Rangpur, and is now in hiding. He sustained various injuries while being tortured in a police van, and was arbitrarily detained, before being faced with clearly fabricated charges and remanded without being seen by the magistrate. Officers threatened to kill him in a fake ‘crossfire’ incident, which is a common method of extra-judicial killing in Bangladesh. The authorities have made no moves to investigate the allegations of torture or charge fabrication. Other witnesses in the case also face false charges.

CASE DETAILS:

Mr. Saidul Islam Alamgir is the district correspondent for the state-run news agency, Bangladesh Shangbad Shangstha (BSS) in Rangpur. According to the information we have received, he was attacked and tortured by police officials on 13 January after he lodged a criminal complaint against a number of influential local businessmen.

On 10 January 2010 Alamgir reported on the aggressive response of trade fair staff and organisers to a local demonstration (regarding the use of gambling at the fair among other issues), during which a number of the civilians were hurt. He also lodged a complaint about it with police. The Kotwali police did not immediately record the subsequent complaint as a First Information Report (FIR), and were accused by the public of having accepted bribes from the hosts of the trade fair; it was registered the following morning (under Sections 143, 323, 379, 307 and 506 (B) of the Penal Code 1860). 
 
On 12 January we are told that Mr. Abdur Rashid Sarker, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the district police station, phoned Mr. Saidul Islam Alamgir and asked that the journalist visit him at his office at 9pm that evening. The journalist arrived an hour late, and found that the OC was at the trade fair dealing with a case of public disorder (regarding lottery prizes which had not been awarded). Not able to reach him, he left for home at 11:30pm.

However on his way back the journalist was stopped at the Jahaj Company intersection by two officers in a police van; their faces were covered, but he recognised them as Sub Inspector (SI) Mr. Rajendra Chandra Sheel and SI Shariful Islam (the Second Officer of Kotwali police station). He was manhandled into the back of the van, where other officers beat him with their guns, sticks, their boots and their fists. Though all of the officers kept their faces covered with scarves at the time of the attack, Alamgir was familiar with the station staff through his work; he recognized SI Mustafizur Rahman, SI Nur Alam, Havilder Abdus Sabur and Constable Mehedi Hassan.

Alamgir then realised that his own nephew Mr. Alfaf Hossain (known as ‘London’) was also detained in the vehicle; he appeared injured.

The police reportedly continued to torture Alamgir between 12:15am and 1:45am while driving around the town of Rangpur. During the ordeal, Constable Mehedi Hassan allegedly pressed Alamgir’s throat to stop him shouting for help, and tried to reach into his mouth to tear out his tongue; several other officers tried to blind him by pushing a stick into his right eye. He was told that he may be killed in a ‘crossfire’ incident, and he sustained severe injuries to his right eye (please see the picture of injury: photo-1), both thighs, his right hand, right waist, both shoulders and right leg due to the beatings.

At the Kotowali police station police detained Alamgir and his nephew in an overcrowded cell with about 35 other detainees, some linked with the case; it was soiled with human excreta. Though his arrest had not been explained to him, at 3:30am Alamgir was finally told by a police constable on sentry duty that two cases were being prepared against him. At around 4am SI Shariful Islam visited the cell with two draft complaints containing fabricated dates and times. To Alamgir’s questions about the nature of his crime, SI Shariful Islam reportedly responded: “Don’t ask questions! Journalism will be pushed through your anus.”

At 3am that day (13 January), once news of his detention had spread, the men’s friends and neighbours arrived to keep vigil outside the police station, concerned that he could be killed in a fabricated ‘crossfire’ incident. They were verbally abused and threatened by officers. Among the group were Alamgir’s wife Mrs. Jesmin Akhter, and Mr. Shwapan Miazi, a journalist, who was expelled from the station by the police officers.

The men were not fed in detention, and due to this and his injuries Alamgir collapsed inside the cell that afternoon. After repeated requests from the journalists, the victim was allowed to leave the cell and be cleaned and fed by his colleagues. At around 3:30pm the police reportedly took him to the emergency department of the Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH).

Later at 4pm some of the men, including Alamgir and his nephew, were taken to the Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Rangpur and detained in the cell of the court building, rather than being produced physically before the magistrate as is legally mandated (Please see the picture here: photo-2, photo-3, photo-4). Without examining or observing the condition of the detainees, the magistrate ordered him to be further detained in Rangpur Central Jail. This was only overturned on 14 January, after a large group of lawyers from the Rangpur District Bar Association demanded bail for him, informing the court of his torture and need for medical treatment; this was granted.

Colleagues immediately took Alamgir to the Rangpur Press Club to record the details of his ordeal, after when he was admitted to the RMCH for treatment, where he stayed for more than a week (Please see the picture here: photo-5, photo-6). Dr. Aktaruzzaman and other medical staff have reported serious damage to his right eye, along with other injuries, and he was referred to Dhaka for better treatment.

The journalists of district demanded justice for the case of torture of Alamgir in a press conference at the local press club and a human chain on the street (Please see picture here: photo-7, photo-8).

Complaint details: Of the two cases, one (Case No. 35, under Sections 143, 323, 379, 385, 506(B) and 115 of the Penal Code of 1860) is for theft. It is alleged to have been recorded at 8:50pm on 12 January 2010 and in it, a Mr. M A Moyeen Khan (Bablu) has claimed that Alamgir and around 20 persons forcibly entered into the circus area near the trade fair and stole BDT 35,000 from the counter on 10 January at 8:50pm. It was also alleged that the same people looted BDT 122,000 from staff at the main entrance of the trade fair that evening, and that the group beat staff members.

The second complaint was allegedly recorded at 2:45am on 13 January (as FIR no. 37 under Sections 143, 323, 379, 335, 332 and 153 of the Penal Code 1860) regarding looting, public violence and the obstruction of official duties in the presence of ten police officers. SI Md. Abdur Rahman is the complainant. The report claims that during a clash at the trade fair between 10pm and 11:30pm on 12 January, Alamgir led around 35 persons in an attack on police and staff during the announcement of the final day’s lottery prizes. The names of 13 of the 35 are filed, and the complainant claims that a number of police personnel were injured, and valuables worth BDT 300,000 were stolen.

The police claim that they arrested Mr. Alamgir and other accused persons from the scene of crime.

In response to these charges Alamgir has noted that he was at the police station between 10 and 11:30pm on 12 January and questions why, if the first case had already been recorded, he was not arrested. He also notes that at the time during which he was meant to be involved in the second incident, he was sitting at the police station in front of the duty officer. He also used his cell phone to call the officer a number of times during this period, as records can show.

Other civilians involved in the dispute in the trade fair – some of them witness to Alamgir’s alibi – have reportedly been named in the case. Some, along with the journalist, are currently in hiding in fear of further attacks and fabricated charges arranged by the police.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the concerned authorities requesting a thorough investigation into the torture and the fabricated charges used against journalist Saidul Islam Alamgir, followed by the prosecution of those responsible. Please also urge the authorities to afford adequate compensation to the victim of torture.

The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, urging their intervention into this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER