Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Bangladesh government to immediately stop “widespread practice of enforced disappearances” mentioning that 48 disappearances were reported in the first five months of 2017.
The global rights body claimed that Bangladesh law enforcement authorities have “illegally detained” hundreds of people since 2013, including scores of opposition activists, and held them in “secret detention”.
The 82-page report titled “‘We Don’t Have Him’: Secret Detentions and Enforced Disappearances in Bangladesh,” also claimed that at least 90 people were victims of enforced disappearance in 2016 alone.
It also said Bangladesh government should order prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into these allegations.
While most were produced in court after weeks or months of secret detention, the HRW documented 21 cases of detainees who were later killed, and nine others whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The 90 cases include three sons of prominent opposition politicians who were picked up over several weeks in August 2016; one was released after six months of secret detention, while the other two remain disappeared, said the report.
There are allegations of severe torture and ill-treatment while in secret custody, the HRW said. “The disappearances are well-documented and reported, yet the government persists in this abhorrent practice with no regard for the rule of law,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRD. “Bangladesh security forces appear to have a free hand in detaining people, deciding on their guilt or innocence, and determining their punishment, including whether they have the right to be alive.” Bangladesh law enforcement authorities have illegally detained hundreds of people since 2013, including scores of opposition activists, and held them in secret detention, the report claimed.
The report also documented the “continuing disappearance” of 19 opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists.
The 19 men were picked up by law enforcement authorities in eight separate incidents over a two-week period in or around Dhaka in the weeks before the January 2014 elections, the report claimed. The HRW interviewed more than 100 people, including family members and witnesses, to document these cases. Details of police complaints and other legal documents are included in the report.
It said the Bangladesh authorities failed to respond to letters seeking their views on these cases.
“The Bangladesh government is making a habit of complete disregard for human rights, human life, and the rule of law,” Adams said. “The government doesn’t even bother denying these abuses, instead remaining silent and relying on silence from the international community in return. This silence needs to end.”
