Business Name

HR news reports
September 10, 2016

&

3rd May 2016

[Enforced disappearance]
is a practice which has
unfortunately become
completely routine in
Bangladesh, and has to end.
Champa Patel, South Asia Director at Amnesty
International.

Disappearances and unlawful detentions in Bangladesh

According to the New York Times, unlawful detentions and disappearances have become routine in the country. There are at least three cases of person who have disappeared, whose fathers were subjected to
political trials that lacked the most basic elements of due process. Of
those fathers, the first died in prison, the second and third were executed by hanging.
All three men were arrested without warrants
or charges, have not been produced before a
magistrate, and have not been allowed access to family or lawyers
There is no question that they are subject to
an enforced disappearance in the custody of
the security forces. Yet the government continues to deny having them. They have been
refused access to lawyers and their families,
and production before a magistrate.

Amnesty International and Human Rights

Watch both note that Bangladeshi security
forces have an extensive and welldocumented history of custodial abuse, including torture and other ill-treatment. Given
this history, there is a real risk of harm during
detention and interrogation. Bangladeshi
authorities need to immediately end the illegal detention of former Brigadier General
Aman Al-Azmi, Mir Ahmed Bin Qasem and
Hummam Qader Chowdhury.

The use of unlawful detention and disappearance has become the tactic of choice in Bangladesh for dealing with
anyone deemed a threat, including political enemies of the
government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. These practices are a violation of due process and are a mockery of
Bangladeshs laws.
By New York Times Editorial Board, Aug. 23, 2016

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT

FOR BANGLADESH NEWSLETTER

Sons of three opposition politicians falsely found guilty of war crimes by a

mock trial which was criticized by local and global human rights organizations
have been detained and disappeared.
Bangladeshs authorities must promptly, thoroughly, and effectively investigate
the enforced disappearance of these three persons.
Authorities should charge or release detainees, stop practice of secret arrests.
what would happen to him. He also said
the arrest was a blatant violation of human
rights.

Aman Al-Azmi

no reasons were given for the abduction.

Observers have expressed astonishment at

the way the government of Bangladesh
The second man is Hummam Qader Chow- treats members of the political opposition.
dhury, a businessman and the son of late
The government does not only eliminate its
Salaudin Qader Chowdhury, a former min- political opponents but also considers their
ister, well-known member of parliasons to be opponents by birth. With regard
ment and one of the leaders of the Bangla- to the three opposition members who had
desh Nationalist Party. He was executed
trials that were criticized locally and globalfollowing a similar mock trial that lacked the ly because they lacked the basic elements
basic elements of due process.
of international law, the sons of those three
persons have been arrested illegally and
Hummam Chowdhury was taken from his
nobody knows anything about their wherecar on the morning of August 4 2016.
abouts or why they were taken away. It
appears that they are facing the same fate
as their fathers.

30 people in plain clothes showed up in

front of former Brigadier General Aman AlAzmis home at 8:00 pm on 22 August
2016 and claimed that they were police
investigators. They broke open the front
door, knocked the guard unconscious and
took Al-Azmi away without producing any
arrest warrant, the statement said. AlAzmis mother, aged 83, and his children
were terrified while his wife was threatened
with arrest. Al-Azmi served 30 years in the
Bangladeshi army and was awarded the
Sword of Honor the highest military medal. He has an unblemished reputation, has
Hummam Qader Chowdhury
not committed any violations and does not
A group of men in plain clothes opened the
have any political activities.
back door of the car and asked him if he
was Hummam Chowdhury. When he anThe family called for Al-Azmis immediate
release because he has not committed any swered yes, they forced him out of the car
and told him they were intelligence officers.
crime or violation. It appears that his only
mistake is that he is the son of Bangladesh They did not produce any arrest warrant or
Jamaat-e-Islamis former leader Professor order and were carrying weapons.
Ghulam Azam, who died in prison while
A few days later, a Supreme Court barrister
serving a 90-year sentence handed down
by a mock trial which was criticized by local named Mir Ahmed Bin Qasem and a member of the team of barristers defending his
and global human rights organizations.
father who was executed on Sept 3rd 2016
following a mock trial similar to the one that
Eyewitnesses said large crowds gathered
sentenced others to death by so-called
and marched in his funeral to pay respect
International War Crimes Tribunal, was
to him. Professor Salman Al-Azmi, the
taken away from his home late at night by
brother of the former brigadier general,
the same people who abducted Hummam.
expressed his anger over the arrest of his
No arrest warrant or order was shown and
brother and voiced his concerns about

Observers wonder where the Bangladeshi

government is heading and what it is going
to do next in light of what appears to be an
overwhelming desire to get rid of all members of the political opposition. There are
scores of opposition leaders who have
been plucked from their homes or who
have vanished all of a sudden. Some were
killed while some are still in prison.

Mir Ahmed Bin Qasem

Courtesy: http://saudigazette.com.sa/
opinion/disappearances-unlawfuldetentions-bangladesh/

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh (HRDB) / email: humanrightsbd@gmail.com