BANGLADESH: Rapid Action Battalion officers arbitrarily torture and detain three men, resulting in the death of one 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a human rights organization in Bangladesh that Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officials arbitrarily tortured and arrested Sha Newaz Tito, Munir Hossain Talukdar and Ziaul Alam Dipu in the Agrabad area of Chittagong, Bangladesh on 4 August 2004. The brutal torture led to the death of Sha Newaz on August 6. The RAB officials further filed a false case of illegal buying and selling of arms against the three victims.

The AHRC is deeply concerned at such arbitrary torture and arrest of innocent civilians. Your urgent action is required to address the issue of torture and arbitrary illegal arrest by the RAB officers in Bangladesh.

Urgent Appeals Desk

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Names of the victims: 1. Md. Sha Newaz Tito (30), assistant teacher of Ketua Islami Dakhil Madrasha in Chandpur

2. Munir Hossain Talukdar, a member of a Gram Sarkar (Local Government), Chandpur, a cousin of Sha Newaz

3. Ziaul Alam Dipu, husband of Muna

Alleged perpetrators: 1) Inspector Md. Ishaque of RAB-7 Potenga, 2) Inspector Sakhawat, 3) Sub Inspector (SI) Abdul Hai, 4) SI Alamgir, 5) SI Sha Alam, 6) SI Hakim, 7) Constable Jahangir, 8) Constable Mansur, 9) Nayek Anwar, 10) Constable Mizan, 11) Constable Ismail, 12) Constable Muzaffar 13) Lieutenant Shahin

Date of incident: 4 – 6 August 2004

Place of incident: Choumohani, Chittagong, Bangladesh

13 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officials arbitrarily tortured and arrested Sha Newaz Tito, Munir Hossain Talukdar and Ziaul Alam Dipu in the Agrabad area of Chittagong, Bangladesh on 4 August 2004. The brutal torture led to the death of Sha Newaz on August 6.

Md. Sha Newaz Titu (30), assistant teacher of Ketua Islami Dakhi Madrasha in Chandpur, went to visit the residence of his cousin, Margina Begum alias Muna at Choumohani, Agrabad area of Chittagong together with Munir Hussain Talukdar, another cousin on 2 August 2004, because the Madrasha where Sha Newaz was teaching was closed due to flooding.

On August 4 at around 1:45pm, Sha Newaz and his cousin Munir were going to have a bath after taking tea from the nearby Maulana restaurant. Suddenly about 20-25 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officials led by Mohammad Ishaque of Navy, bearing no. 800514, came with two vans and started beating them with a strong stick. The officials surrounded the restaurant and searched the cash-boxes and other places for arms.

At that time, Ziaul Alam Dipu, Muna’s husband and Sha Newaz’s brother-in-law, came to also take a bath and found that some plain-clothes people with arms were beating Sha Newaz and Munir. Ziaul tried to convince the RAB officials that Sha Newaz and Munir were his relatives and had come to Chittagong to visit his family. However, when Ziaul asked the RAB officials the reason for beating them, the officials got angry with Ziaul and tied him with his gamcha (a towel) and started beating him also.

Approximately at 2:15pm, the three victims were taken into the yard of Ziaul’s house at 1681, Choumohani which is 40 yards behind the Maulana restaurant. Some of the RAB personnel later entered the house and destroyed all the furniture and other belongings. All the members of Ziaul’s family were confined to their living room on the 1^st floor. Other RAB personnel continued the torture of the three victims. They then brought a sofa from the house, forced Ziaul to sit on it and gave him electric shocks. They obtained the electric connection from the nearby storeroom and administered shocks to him continuously, especially on areas of cracked skin and on his sexual organs. Neighbors and children witnessed this brutal and illegal conduct of the RAB. They were also witnesses of the fact that in their destruction of the house, the RAB found no sign of any arms or ammunition. After torturing the three of them for three hours, they were taken away by the officials at around 4:45pm: Ziaul in a CNG taxi, Sha Newaz and Munir by vans.

On August 5 at around 5am in the morning, there was a phone call from the Double Mooring Police Station to Ziaul’s uncle informing him that Ziaul and Munir had been taken to the said police station in a bad physical condition. On hearing the news, Saiful Alam, Ziaul’s uncle, Muna, Ziaul’s wife and some other relatives went to the police station. A case under section 19 (cha) of the Arms Act had been filed against the victims with the Double Mooring Police Station by RAB Inspector Md. Ishaque.

Muna was told that Ziaul was tortured throughout the night while having a high temperature and she discovered that Ziaul could not stand or walk due to the torture. After producing the three victims before a court, they were taken to jail. Saiful Alam and Muna were informed that Sha Newaz was admitted in the Chittagong Medical College Hospital because of his deteriorated physical state. When his relatives reached the hospital, they found him unconscious. They later came to know that Sha Newaz was admitted into ward no. 28 of the Department of Neurosurgery of the hospital at around 4am on August 5 and that he was suffering from injuries due to the assault. Sha Newaz succumbed to his injuries and died at 4:45pm on August 6.

According to the false First Information Report (FIR) filed at the police station, the alleged perpetrators raided the Maulana Restaurant at Choumohani on the information that the victims were involved in selling and buying illegal arms. During the incursion at 3am on August 4, they arrested Ziaul Alam Dipu with 10 rounds of AK-47 rifle bullets. At that time Sha Newaz, one of the accused persons, rushed to the first floor of Ahammad Zeminder’s house and got seriously injured when he jumped from there to escape arrest. The report further stated that the police recovered 10 rounds of pistol bullets and two rounds of gun bullets from him.

The information in the FIR is obviously false, as there were numerous witnesses, including the Maulana restaurant manager and a honey seller who stated that the RAB personnel came to the restaurant not at dawn but in the daylight. There was also no two-story building, and witnesses also stated that no ammunition had been found or seized by the RAB.

Sha Newaz’s autopsy report of August 8 stated that the skin of his arms was scratched. There were also reports of numerous marks of injury all over the body and the victim allegedly died due to internal hemorrhage caused by cerebral injuries. The inquest report also referred to injuries on different parts of the body, particularly injuries on the hand and legs and swellings and red spots on the neck. SI Mollah Zakir Hossain of Double Mooring Police Station filed a case of unnatural death (No. 21/4, date 6/8/04) in this connection.

The AHRC is gravely concerned with such illegal torture and arrest committed by the RAB officials who are known for their brutality. The AHRC urges the Bangladesh government and relevant local authorities to take immediate legal/disciplinary action against the responsible RAB officers and to conduct an impartial investigation into the torture that led to Sha Nawaz’s death and false charges against the victims. Full medical treatment should be provided to the victims as well.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the relevant authorities expressing your concern regarding this case.

1. Mrs. Khaleda Zia

Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Prime Minister’s Office
Old Parliament House,
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Fax: +88 2 8113244, 811015, 8113243
E-mail: pm@pmobd.org or psecretary@pmobd.org (to the Secretary)

2. Prof. Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed
President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,
Bangabhaban,
Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Fax: +88 2 9566242

3. Mr. Barrister Moudud Ahmed
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,
Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka
Fax: +88 02 861 8557
E-mail: minoflaw@bdonline.com

4. Mr. Alhaj Altaf Hossain Chowdhury
Minister of Home Affairs
Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Fax: +88 02 8619667 or +88 02 955 2323

5. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9016

6. Mr. Philip Alston

Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +92 42 5763 234
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 / +92 42 5763 236
Email: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch