BANGLADESH: Three men allegedly tortured by soldiers in Khulna; one dead

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: UA-029-2007
ISSUES: Torture,

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that three men were allegedly tortured by the Army deployed in Paikgachha, Khulna district, Bangladesh, after their arbitrary arrests on 17 January 2007. One of the three men namely Mr. Amanullah alias Aman (40) died in the army custody within 27 hours after his arrest, while were sent to hospital due to severe injuries caused by alleged torture. On January 19, the army reportedly suspended all treatment facilities at the Paikgachha hospital for the entire day in order to keep the media and relatives away from witnessing Mr. Amanullah’s body. It is reported that the army is compelling the medical doctors of the hospital to declare that the victim died due to “cardio respiratory failure”. The government authorities have not taken any action against the alleged perpetrators. Meanwhile, the other two men arrested were found to be ‘untraced’ until January 22 and sent to jail on January 23. Due to an ongoing state of emergency the security forces have been deployed across the country and fundamental rights of people have been subsequently suspended. The professionals, including journalists and human rights defenders, are living in serious fear.

CASE DETAILS:

A military crackdown started in Bangladesh since 11 January 2007 following the proclamation of a state of emergency in the country by the President, Professor Iazuddin Ahmed. Around 55,000 soldiers, excluding the police, the Rapid Action Battalion and other security forces, are under orders to hunt the ‘criminals’ in the country. Hundreds of people, including political activists, wanted suspects and small businessmen, are being arrested and detained on a daily basis by the law-enforcing agents and security forces.

On 17 January 2007 at around 7:00 pm, three pickup vans of the Bangladesh Army arrived at the Kopilmuni Bazar under the jurisdiction of the Paikgachha police station in in Khulna district, Bangladesh. The military arrested Mr. Amanullah alias Aman (40) along with two other persons namely Mr. Abdul Gafur (38) and Mr. Basu Dev (32). The soldiers started beating the three men at the time of arrest.

The army then took them to the temporary local army camp at the “Lona Pani Motso Gobeshana (Saline Water Fisheries Research) Institute”, the Paikgachha police station in Khulna district. Mr. Amanullah was detained in the military camp overnight and was allegedly subjected to brutal torture. On the following day on January 18, his physical condition deteriorated and he lost consciousness. At around 10:00 pm, Mr. Amanullah’s dead body was brought to the Paikgachha Upazilla Health Complex, the only government hospital in the town, where the on duty medical doctors declared him dead. A medical doctor, on condition of anonymity, revealed that the victim was dead before he had been taken to the hospital by the Army personnel. The victim’s death occurred within 27 hours of having been arrested.

It was alleged that the Army kept the Paikgachha Upazilla Health Complex confined for the whole day on January 19 while the inquest report was prepared by Sub Inspector Mr. Masuduzzaman in presence of the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Paikgachha police station, Mr. Kazi Ahsan Habib, the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Mr. Md. Yunus Ali, Commanding Officer of the Army at Paikgachha, Major Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Warrant Officer of the Army, Mr. Tajul Islam and a Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr. Anup Kumar Das. It was alleged that the inquest report was prepared by a police officer instead of a magistrate, in violation of Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The hospital, including the Emergency Medical Treatment unit, was completely suspended for the whole day for the public. The soldiers refused all patients who came to receive medical treatment at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Paikgachha police lodged an Unnatural Death (UD) case with the same police station regarding Mr. Amanullah’s death. The Paikgachha police claim that the victim had about five cases against him with the police station, while Mr. Gafur and Mr. Dev are on the “Criminal List” of the police. However, the police have not provided any details about it.

It was alleged that the Army officers have been pressuring the medical officers of the Khulna General Hospital into preparing a false post-mortem report declaring Mr. Amanullah’s death was “due to cardio respiratory failure”. The post-mortem was conducted by a team headed by the Civil Surgeon of Khulna, Dr. Ham-e-Jamal, and two other medical officers, according to the local sources.

Mr. Amanullah’s relatives and the persons who were present during the funeral bath say that they witnessed several injuries all over his body. They suspect that he died of being tortured by the Army personnel. On January 19, Mr. Amanullah’s body was buried in his family graveyard in the evening.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gafur and Mr. Dev were found untraced until January 22 since their arrest on January 17. It was learnt that following deterioration of their health due to brutal torture in army custody, the alleged perpetrators admitted both of them at the hospital in the Khulna city on 19 January evening maintaining top secrecy. The two men received medical treatment there for a couple of days. On January 22, the army handed over them to the Paikgachha police who produced them before the Paikgachha Upazilla Magistrate’s Cognizance Court on the following day on January 23, under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court ordered to remand them to jail.

Due to fear for security and ongoing state of emergency and severe censorship on publishing news criticizing the government, the news of Mr. Amanullah’s death has not been published in any local media. There is no record of his death with the local hospital, according to the local sources report.

Under the circumstances, local journalists and human rights defenders are living in extreme fear due to the military crackdown. The local sources also allege that the military has been beating people indiscriminately, including vegetable vendors and rickshaw pullers on the street for their alleged faulty measurement scale and possessing streets respectively.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

This is the fifth time Bangladesh has declared a state of emergency. Beyond the state of emergency the military had been deployed regularly; during the general elections across the country; and during natural disasters in different parts of the country at different times. In the recent past, Bangladesh experienced a devastating situation in a disposal of 86 days, from 16 October 2002 to 9 January 2003, when armed forces were deployed without any state of emergency or natural disaster. The outgoing Four Party Alliance government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) deployed the armed forces in the name of “Operation Clean Heart (OCH)” to maintain law and order; recover illegal arms and catch wanted criminals. The OCH took more than 50 innocent lives, and more than 11,000 arbitrary arrests and detentions for different periods during 86 days crackdown among which only around 800 persons had cases against them. The then government awarded blanket impunity to the forces despite the disastrous consequence during the OCH. Besides, the law-enforcers traditionally enjoy impunity from the government despite grave human rights violations in almost everyday. Such culture of impunity inspires the law-enforcers and the security forces of the country to violate human rights through brutal torture and extra-judicial killings. There is serious fear among the concerned professionals regarding the human rights situation.

The Magistrates, who are controlled by the Home Ministry, do not consider or verify the fact by their own conscience and authority during the production of persons having been arbitrarily arrested by the law-enforcers. They detain the arrested persons responding the law-enforcing agents, instead, responding to the victims. The lawyers also do not fight for the innocent victims of arbitrary arrests; sometimes, they fear the Army and the Rapid Action Battalion, and sometimes avoid clash with the law-enforcing agents forecasting future problems and difficulties they may suffer. As a result, the victims never get justice from the beginning to the end in most of the cases.  

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), the sister organization of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), has documented the graveness of the human rights situation of Bangladesh in its bimonthly publication, article 2 (Vol. 5, No. 4, August 2006). Please refer to the report titled “Lawless law enforcement and the parody of judiciary in Bangladesh”. Please also see the 2006 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Bangladesh.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter immediately to the relevant Bangladesh government authorities listed below urging them to take prompt action to investigate the conduct of the Army in the alleged arbitrary arrest, torture, detention and death of Amanullah. Please also send your letters to the relevant UN agencies listed below.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear __________,

BANGLADESH: Three men allegedly tortured by soldiers in Khulna; one dead

Name of victim (killed): Mr. Amanullah alias Aman, aged 40, son of the late Mr. Monir Uddin, the resident of Protapkathi village under the Paikgachha police station in Khulna district, Bangladesh
Name of victims (injured): 
1. Mr. Abdul Gafur, aged 38, a shrimp businessman, the resident of Kazimusa village under the Paikgachha police station in Khulna district
2. Mr. Basu Dev, aged 32, the resident of Kazimusa village under the Paikgachha police station in Khulna district
Alleged perpetrators: 
1. Major Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Commander of the Army Team deployed in Paikgachha, Khulna district
2. Mr. Tajul Islam, Warrant Officer attached to the Army Team deployed in Paikgachha
3. The personnel of the Bangladesh Army deployed in the Paikgachha police station in Khulna district
Date of incident: Arbitrarily arrested on 17 January 2007; Mr. Amanullah died of alleged torture on 18 January 2007
Place of arbitrary detention and torture: Paikgachha Army Camp in Khulna

I am writing to express my deep concern about the alleged arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of three men by the army personnel who are deployed in the Paikgachha police station, Khulna district, Bangladesh. One of the three men died of alleged torture within 27 hours after he was taken into army custody.

According to the information I have received, the three men mentioned above were arrested by the army personnel who came in three army pickup vans to the Kopilmuni Bazar, the Paikgachha police station, Khulna district at around 7:00pm on 17 January 2007. The soldiers allegedly assaulted them at the time of arrest. I was informed that the three men then were taken to the temporary local army camp at the “Lona Pani Motso Gobeshana (Saline Water Fisheries Research) Institute” in the Paikgachha police station. Mr. Amanullah’s dead body was brought to the Paikgachha Upazilla Health Complex at around 10:00pm on January 18. I was informed that a medical doctor revealed that the victim was dead before he had been taken to the hospital by the soldiers.

I am also deeply concerned by the alleged attempt of covering up the victim’s death by the army. I was informed that the Army kept the Paikgachha Upazilla Health Complex confined for the whole day on January 19 while the inquest report was prepared by Sub Inspector Mr. Masuduzzaman in presence of the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Paikgachha police station, Mr. Kazi Ahsan Habib, the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Mr. Md. Yunus Ali, Commanding Officer of the Army at Paikgachha, Major Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Warrant Officer of the Army, Mr. Tajul Islam and a Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr. Anup Kumar Das. It was alleged that the inquest report was prepared by a police officer instead of a magistrate, in violation of Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. I was also informed that the army officers have been allegedly pressuring the medical officers of the Khulna General Hospital to prepare a false post-mortem report declaring Mr. Amanullah’s death was “due to cardio respiratory failure”. The post-mortem was conducted by a team headed by the Civil Surgeon of Khulna, Dr. Ham-e-Jamal, and two other medical officers, according to the local sources. Meanwhile, Mr. Amanullah’s relatives and the persons, who were attending the funeral bath, say that they witnessed several injuries all over his body. They suspect that he died of being tortured by the soldiers.

I was also informed that the Paikgachha police lodged an Unnatural Death (UD) case with the same police station regarding Mr. Amanullah’s death. However, instead of conducting an investigation into the incident, the Paikgachha police simply claim that the victim had about five cases against him with the police station, while Mr. Gafur and Mr. Dev are on the “Criminal List” of the police. However, the police have not provided any details about their claim.

I have been informed that following deterioration of their health due to brutal torture in the army custody, the alleged perpetrators reportedly admitted Mr. Abdul Gafur and Mr. Basu Dev at the 250-Beds Hospital in the Khulna city maintaining top secrecy. Both victims received medical treatment there for a couple days. On January 22, the army handed over them to the Paikgachha police, who produced them before the Paikgachha Upazilla Magistrate’s Cognizance Court on January 23 under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Now they are detained in the jail by the court order.

Meanwhile, the government authorities have not taken any action against the soldiers responsible for Mr. Amanullah’s death and severe torture of Mr. Abdul Gafur and Mr. Basu Dev. The families of the victims are living in extreme fear of further harassment by the army and other law-enforcing agencies.

In light of the above, I request you to order a prompt, fair and thorough investigation into the matters that I drew your attention. If it is found that the alleged perpetrators committed crimes against the three victims, they must be made accountable for their actions and be indicted under the domestic laws of Bangladesh. I also urge you to take action to provide effective protection to the families of the three victims from possible harassment and threats from the army or other law enforcement personnel during the investigation. The families must be adequately compensated. ]

I am well aware that a military crackdown started in Bangladesh since 11 January 2007 following the proclamation of a state of emergency in the country by the President, Professor Iazuddin Ahmed. In the circumstances, hundreds of people, including political activists, are being arrested and detained on a daily basis by the law-enforcing agents and security forces.

I want to recall you that gross human rights violations took place by the army forces in the name of “Operation Clean Heart” from 16 October 2002 to 9 January 2003. More than 50 persons died in the custody of the army at that time. I am seriously concerned that same type or worse type of human rights violations may occur in the country due to this crackdown by the armed forces. I therefore strongly request you to ensure that that the Government of Bangladesh withdraws the state of emergency without delay. Without this, such gross violations and abuses will no doubt continue.

I am also concerned that such violations continue despite the presence of Bangladesh on the UN Human Rights Council and having been a state party of the Convention against Torture.  Therefore, I strongly urge you together with other government officials to take genuine action to reform the current law enforcement system by enforcing strict discipline and punishment for any misconduct and crimes against the ordinary citizens of Bangladesh.

I look forward to your urgent intervention in this matter.
 
Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

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

2. Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed
Chief Adviser 
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Chief Advisor
Tejgaon, Dhaka 
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 8828160-79, 9888677
Fax: +880 2 8113244 or 3243 or 1015 or 1490 
E-mail: pm@pmobd.org or psecretary@pmobd.org (to the Secretary)

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

4. Attorney General of Bangladesh
Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562868
Fax: +880 2 9561568

5. Lt. General Moin U Ahmed
Chief of Army Staff
Bangladesh Army
Army Headquarters
Dhaka Cantonment 
Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 
Fax: +880 2

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

7. Professor 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 (ATTENTION: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)

8. Ms. Leila Zerrougui
Working Group on arbitrary detention
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

9. Mr. Philip Alston 
Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary, or arbitrary executions 
Attn: Lydie Ventre 
Room 3-016, c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND 
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS)

Thank you.

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

Document Type : Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID : UA-029-2007
Countries : Bangladesh,
Issues : Torture,