UPDATE (Bangladesh): One human rights defender arbitrarily arrested and again implicated into fabricated case

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the alleged arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of Mr. Jahangir Alam Akash, a journalist and human rights defender based in Rajshahi city, by the personnel of the Rapid Action Battalion-5 in Rajshahi city on 24 October 2007. As a result of the severe torture, the victim is currently warded in the Rajshahi jail hospital but the jail hospital does not provide sufficient medical treatment to Mr. Akash. The AHRC is also very concerned that one of the alleged torture perpetrators is Major Mr. Rashidul Hassan Rashid, who allegedly made a serious threatening phone call to the victim on 3 May 2007, after the victim broadcast the attempted extra-judicial killing of an alleged terrorist by RAB personnel (For details, see UA-149-2007 and UP-101-2007). Major Mr. Rashid is also believed to be involved in the fabrication of an extortion case against victim (For details, see UP-122-2007). The AHRC is also informed that the victim is implicated in another fabricated extortion case, filed at the Puthia Police Station in Rajshahi district on October 23. The AHRC urges your immediate intervention in this case. Please strongly urge the Government of Bangladesh to immediately release the victim, take action to stop repeated intimidation and attacks against him, and withdraw the false charges against him.

UPDATED INFORMATION:

According to the information we have received, Mr. Jahangir Alam Akash was arbitrarily arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-5 deployed from the Rajshahi region, from his residence at around 2am on 24 October 2007. The RAB personnel (in plain clothes) reportedly dragged Mr. Akash, who was sleeping at the time, out of his house and took him away. It is alleged that Mr. Akash was arrested because of a number of his reports in the newspaper Daily Sangbad and TV news channel CSB News, regarding a number of reports on the alleged torture and extrajudicial killings committed by RAB personnel.

After the arrest, Mr. Akash was allegedly hung from the ceiling until the afternoon of October 24 and severely beaten by the RAB personnel in the army camp, Rajshahi. Mr. Akash later informed one of his relatives that Major Rashidul Hassan Rashed and other army officers brutally assaulted him in the army camp. The AHRC reported that Major Rashidul Hassan Rashed had seriously intimidated the victim on 3 May 2007 for broadcasting news on the attempted extra-judicial killing of an alleged terrorist on a private television channel (For further details, see UA-149-2007).

Mr. Akash was then handed over to the Boaliya police, who then produced him before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Rajshahi, under arrest for Section 16(2) of the Emergency Powers Rules-2007. Under Section 16(2) of the Emergency Powers Rules-2007, any member of the ‘law and order maintaining force’ is authorized to arrest any person on suspicion without a warrant.

The magistrate of the said CMMC-Rajshahi then ordered Mr. Akash to be remanded at Rajshahi Jail. Due to his serious condition, Mr. Akash is currently in Rajshahi Jail Hospital. We have received information that his legs are horribly swollen, that there are injury marks all over his body and that he is unable to walk now due to his injuries. However, the jail hospital does not provide appropriate medical treatment to Mr. Akash.

The AHRC has also learned that Mr. Akash has been implicated in another fabricated extortion case under Sections 385 (extortion), 386 (extortion by putting any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Bangladesh Penal Code (Case number: Boaliya Thana No.13 of 2007). It was filed by a person named Harum, son of Jalil, at the Puthia Police Station in Rajshahi district on October 23.

In his complaint, Harum alleged that he was forced to give a bribe to Mr. Akash, who threatened him with a sharp weapon. However, Harum had reportedly been convicted in a rape case in which Mr. Akash had conducted the fact-finding mission and identified him as the offender. Subsequently, Harum was convicted for a jail-term and fine by court. The local human rights groups believe that this is a plot against Mr. Akash to restrict his freedom of expression and human rights activities.

Mr. Akash is the coordinator of the Task Force against Torture (TFT)-Rajshahi city as well as the regional coordinator of the Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) in the Rajshahi region. He is also a journalist by profession working as the bureau chief of a private news television channel CSB News and the Daily Sangbad, the Dhaka based national newspaper.

REMINDER OF CASE:

In fact, this is not an isolated case of intimidation and threats to Mr. Akash. Earlier in May and July, the AHRC issued urgent appeals regarding the alleged serious threats and intimidation against him, after he broadcasted reports on the attempted extra-judicial killing of an alleged terrorist by RAB personnel on a private television channel. To learn more details of the previous appeals, please see: UA-149-2007 and UP-101-2007.

After that, on 28 August 2007, Mr. Akash was implicated in an alleged false extortion charge based on a complaint lodged by a man named Mr. Loton. Mr. Loton is allegedly working as a “source” for the RAB-5. For details of this case, please see our urgent appeal UP-122-2007.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

On January 11, 2007 the President of Bangladesh proclaimed a State of Emergency following an upsurge in violence between rival political groups. Unfortunately, the State of Emergency has been prolonged for more than nine months even though this violence has subsided. Meanwhile, the State of Emergency has been accompanied by the Emergency Powers Ordinance-2007, which has supplemented the Emergency Powers Rules-2007. These emergency rules and ordinance have been repeatedly abused by law-enforcement agents in the country, notably to carry out arbitrary arrests of people without the need for any justification. The law effectively legalizes arbitrary arrests and detention now in Bangladesh.

Not a single case of victims of such gross human rights abuses as torture, death resulting from torture or extra-judicial killing can even be pursued in courts at present. Section 6 of the Emergency Powers Ordinance ensures prior impunity to any perpetrators of such acts. Section 6(1) declares that “Any order relating to any authority delegated by or under, this Ordinance shall not be challenged before any court.” Furthermore, according to Section 6(2), “Unless any provision under this Ordinance stipulates otherwise, no civil or criminal case, or any other legal proceedings shall be lodged against the government for any harm incurred as a result of any action, or any action done in good faith under, by the authority of this Ordinance.” Impunity has been legislated in the past in Bangladesh. For example, the government passed the Joint Drive Indemnity Act-2003 following the disastrous Operation Clean Heart, ensuring impunity for the perpetrators of torture and killings committed under this operation.

To learn more about the human rights abuses by law enforcement officers under the State of Emergency, please see a written statement submitted to the 6th session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC): “BANGLADESH: Bangladesh’s State of Emergency is unjustifiable and ensuring abuses of human rights“. The ALRC is the sister organization of the AHRC.

Under the State of Emergency, people suffer from gross human rights abuses committed by the law enforcement officers. Moreover, the human rights activists often become targets of arbitrary arrest, detention and intimidation.

The cases presented below are some examples of those human rights abuses documented through our urgent appeals programme. To see more cases, please visit: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/

1. UA-278-2007: BANGLADESH: A 65-year-old man allegedly tortured to death by police: Md. Munsur Ali Miridha (65) of Master Paara of Shashongacha in Comilla Sadar Upazila, died in the hospital after four days of detention in the police station. He had been arrested on 27 June 2007 under Section 16 (2) of the Emergency Power Ordinance 2007. Even though his dead body clearly showed bruises and remarks, the police reports completely contradicted the evidence of injuries shown on the body as well as testimonies from the families and witnesses.

2. UA-241-2007: BANGLADESH: Alleged extrajudicial killing of a carpenter by army personnel at Moulovibazar: Md. Torik Miah, a 39 year old carpenter living at the Monohorpur village under Kulaura Thana of Moulovibazar town, was illegally arrested and extrajudicially killed by army personnel from the Moulovibazar Army Camp on or around 18 June 2007. While the witnesses say that they saw the obvious signs of injury on the victim’s body, the army personnel denied torturing him and claim that the victim died of a heart attack.

3. UA-170-2007: BANGLADESH: Alleged brutal killing of a man by the RAB officers in Rajshahi: Quamrul Islam Majnu (25) died after allegedly being brutally assaulted by the RAB personnel in plainclothes on 19 May 2007. The victim’s brother received threats from the RAB officers to withdraw his police complaint lodged against the perpetrators.

4. UA-213-2007: BANGLADESH: Man allegedly tortured by military; police refuse to take up the case: On 11 June 2007, Mahbud Alam Liton (35) was allegedly arrested without a warrant from his home in Concept Tower, Dhanmundi, Dhaka, by army personnel and taken to an army camp where he was allegedly tortured. The victim’s family tried to file a complaint with the police, but the police rejected them saying they did not have jurisdiction as the army was involved.

5. FA-006-2007: BANGLADESH: Legal action against one human rights advocate due to his work on illegal demolition of one Hindu temple by the armed forces: On 15 July 2007, the Magistrate’s Cognizance Court-GA Area of Bogra district issued the arrest warrant against Rabindra Ghosh, the Dhaka chapter President of Human Rights Congress for Banglaesh Minorities (HRCBM) on 15 July 2007. A case was filed against the victim alleging his work as against the state, after he contacted several local government officials to inquire about the illegal demolition of one Hindu temple by the armed forces in Bhabanipur Sherpur-Bogra district on 13 February 2007.

6. UA-193-2007: BANGLADESH: Arbitrary detention of 7 student activists by joint security forces: Seven student activists belonging to the Bangladesh Students League (BSL) were arbitrarily arrested and detained by the joint security forces in May 2007. All the victims were arrested from their residence within a two day period between May 7-9 with the charge of attending the procession of 2-3000 people defying the state of emergency at the airport when Ms. Shekh Hasina, the Former Prime Minister and the President of the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) returned from abroad. Prior to these arrests, another 6 leaders of the BSL had been arrested by the joint security forces on January 17, and detained under a “preventive detention” order by the Home Ministry under section 3(1) of Special Power Act, 1973.

7. UA-176-2007: BANGLADESH: Arbitrary detention of two former ministers under state emergency act: Mr. Obaidul Quader and Mr. Abdul Jalil, who are leaders of the Bangladesh Awami League party as well as the former ministers, were arbitrarily arrested separately on 9 March 2007 and 28 May 2007. Both victims were detained in preventive detention under section 3(1) of Special Power Act (SPA).

8. UA-067-2007: BANGLADESH: Arbitrary detention of two prominent NGO leaders for two months since the state of emergency: Mr. Md. Abul Kashem Palash, Principal Programme Coordinator of the PROSHIKA, and Mr. Md. Aminul Islam, Director of the Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh (ADAB), a forum of around 1150 NGOs of the Bangladesh, were allegedly arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-2 on 12 January 2007. They were accused by the Bangladesh government of being threats to the internal security of the country. They were neither produced before any court nor allowed access to their lawyers for two months since their arrest.

9. UA-147-2007: BANGLADESH: Human Rights Defender is seriously threatened and intimidated by Navy officers: Mr. ASM Nasiruddin Elan, the acting director of ODHIKAR, had been seriously threatened and verbally abused by a naval captain at the Navy’s headquarters in Banani, Dhaka on 3 May 2007. The officer subjected Mr. Elan for questioning for conducting human rights fact-finding mission, among them is the case involving the torture and death of persons in the Navy’s custody.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the authorities below and urge them to conduct immediate and thorough investigation into this case. Please also demand them to provide appropriate medical treatment to the victim and immediately release him. False charges should be withdrawn.

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