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HR news reports
October 09, 2016

&

3rd May 2016

Whereabouts of three
men subjected to
enforced
disappearance must
be disclosed
-Amnesty International
The Bangladeshi authorities must immediately establish the fate and whereabouts of three individuals who were subjected to enforced disappearances
several weeks ago. They have not been seen or heard from since.
The three men Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, Mir
Ahmed Bin Quasem and Hummam Qader
Chowdhury all have not just been deprived
of their liberty but there is also a complete
lack of information about their fate. This unacceptable situation places them outside the
protection of the law. As with all people subjected to enforced disappearances they are
at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, or
even death, in custody.
Hummam Qader Chowdhury, a senior
member of the opposition Bangladesh National Party, was arrested as he was travelling with his mother to a courthouse to attend
a hearing on 4 August. Several men in plainclothes some of whom were armed and

claimed to be from the Bangladesh Detective

Branch (DB) forced Chowdhury to leave his
car and come with them. Chowdhurys family
tried to file a general diary complaint the
standard first report of transgression filed
with the police - after his arrest, but the police
in Dhaka refused to accept it.1
Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, a Supreme Court
lawyer, was arrested from his home on 9
August by several men in plainclothes. The
men did not identify themselves as being
associated with any security forces. His wife
and cousin were present during the arrest.
Mir Ahmed Bin Qasems wife filed a general
diary complaint shortly after his arrest.
Contd: back page

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

Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh:

A new cruel culture

By Md Saiful Islam
Enforced disappearance is a relatively new addition to state crime. It is nowadays the most abominable term in Bangladesh. According to Amnesty International, Enforced disappearance is frequently
used as a strategy to spread terror within society. The feeling of insecurity and fear it generates is
not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects communities and society as a
whole. It has become a global problem. Once largely used by military dictatorships, disappearances
now happen out of many internal conflicts, particularly when trying to repress political opponents.
One of the human rights organizations of Bangladesh known as ODHIKAR defines enforced disappearance as a heinous violation of human rights and an international crime. It affects victims indifferent ways, including constant fear for their lives. Their families go through an emotional rollercoaster of hope and despair, waiting for news that might never come. The disappeared person is removed from the protection of law, a fundamental right.
Every disappearance violates a range groups have documented at least 250
of human rights including:
people forcibly disappeared in the country. Many witnesses have testified to the

Right to security and dignity of a law enforcement agents involvement in

person
these cases, and the pattern of abductions and the profiles of victims suggest

Right not to be subjected to torture that disappearances are used as a

or other cruel, inhuman or degrad- weapon by the government to silence
ing treatment or punishment
political opponents.

Right to humane conditions of de- Enforced disappearance violates the

tention
criminal law of Bangladesh and International law:
Right to a legal personality

Right to a fair trial

Right to a family life

Right to life (if the disappeared person is killed or their fate is unknown). (Source: Amnesty International)

Enforced disappearance has

creased in Bangladesh recently.

in-

After coming into the power in 2009, The

Awami League government started to
repress the opposition parties. Many
political activists have been disappeared
by the law enforcement agency and their
bullet-riddled dead body has been found
in several places. Between January
2009 and March 2016, human rights

The enforced disappearance violates

both the Bangladeshi law and International law. Enforced disappearance is a
new cruel culture in our country. After
the year of 2009, it is massively seen in
this country. The constitution of Bangladesh strongly opposes this. Though it is
a new culture, there are provisions regarding kidnap and abduction in the
Penal Code, 1860. According to section
362 of the Penal Code, 1860, a person
is said to commit the offence of abduction when he by force compels or by any
deceitful means induces any other person to go from one place to another.

kidnapping or abduction is committed

with an intention to wrongful confinement, the offender shall be punished
with custody of either description for a
term, which may extend to seven years
and shall also be liable to fine. shibiractivists
A serious violation of International Law
is also committed by enforced disappearance. Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) asserted that, All are equal before the
law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the
law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in
violation of this Declaration and
against any incitement to such discrimination.

Bangladesh has international obligations

as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), as enforced disappearances
violate a number of rights mentioned in
the covenant, including the right to liberty and security of person and the right to
fair trial, and, in particular cases the right
to life. Investigations into enforced disThe punishment for murder after abduc- appearances are rarely made in Banglation is death penalty or imprisonment for desh. (Amnesty International)
life as stipulated in section 302 of the
Penal Code 1860. In addition to this, if Contd: Page 4

Business Name

3rd May 2016

Effect of enforced disappearance

found in pond, river, field, crematory and so
on. Victims relatives dont know what his
Enforced disappearance is one of the forms fault was. When a son of a family becomes
of cruel inhumane violence in Bangladesh. disappeared, this is the stinging incident for
Opposition leaders and activists are the the parents.
main victims of such inhumane activity. Every human being has the right to get justice Victims family faces serious economic probwhen he is victimized by any other means lems when the victim was the main breadbut in the context of Bangladesh the situa- winner of the family. Children face psychotion has become of such nature that victim logical problem when their father is disaphas no opportunity to get minimum justice. peared. They generally grow with social imThe family members and relatives of the maturity.
person disappeared pass their days with
great confusion whether their beloved will The present government cant avoid liability
of enforced disappearance. Police, RAB are
return or not.
also accountable for the disappearance beEffect of enforced disappearance: cause they are the main actors of this cruel
culture. If this inhuman culture continues, the
Enforced disappearance has a horrific im- government may lose trust from mass peopact on the sufferers life and his family as ple though the present government is passwell. Now in Bangladesh, such offensive ing over a crisis regarding their legitimacy.
treatment has become very cruel. Many people including students are forcibly disap- The writer is a Masters student of Political Scipeared by the law enforce agency and after ence at the University of Dhaka. Source: http://
perspectivebd.com/2016/04/1653/
disappearance the victims dead body is
A new cruel culture: from Page 2

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.

Aman Al-Azmi
Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, a former Brigadier General in the Bangladesh army,
was arrested at his family home in Dhaka
on 22 August 2016. About 30 officers,
some of whom claimed to be from DB,
took him into custody late at night from
his home and the officers also badly assaulted some staff in the apartment building, according to credible sources. As in
Chowdhurys case, police in Dhaka refused to accept a general diary note when
the family tried to file it.
To date, the authorities in Bangladesh
have continued to deny their role in the
deprivations of liberty. This is despite
several witness testimonies pointing to
the involvement of security forces in the
arrests. Credible sources have told Amnesty International that the men have
been moved between different security
agencies,
including the police, the Rapid Action
Battalion (a police unit widely implicated
in human rights abuses), and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (the
military intelligence agency), but their
current whereabouts are unknown.

tablished to investigate mass scale human rights violations committed during

the 1971 War of Independence. Chowdhurys father, Salahuddin Qader Chowdhury, was executed in November 2015,
while Bin Quasem's father, Mir Quasem
Ali, was executed in September 2016.
Abdullahil Amaan Azmis father, Ghulam
Azam, was given a 90-year prison sentence in 2013 and died of a stroke in prison a year later. It is still unclear why the
three sons have been arrested, but on 8
September 2016 the Bangladesh Law
Minister Anisul Huq told media that the
children of war criminals are hatching
conspiracies, and that the government
had to stay alert against them.2

Immediately disclose to the families the fate and whereabouts of Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, Mir Ahmed Bin
Qasem and Hummam Qader Chowdhury;

Charge all three individuals with

an internationally recognized criminal offence or release them immediately; and
Put an end to enforced disappearances in the country by bringing all
of those suspected of criminal responsibility for that crime and other
human rights violations to justice in
fair trials before ordinary civilian
courts without recourse to death
penalty.
1 Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch,
Bangladesh: End illegal detentions immediately, 14
August 2016, available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/
latest/news/2016/08/bangladesh-end-illegal-detentionsimmediately/

Hummam Qader Chowdhury

Since 2009, enforced disappearances
have become alarmingly routine in Bangladesh. Amnesty International has documented many cases where individuals
have been arrested by members of the
security forces and never heard from
again. According to the Bangladeshi human rights organisation Odhikar, there
have been at least 14 enforced disappearances so far in 2016 and at least 64
in 2015.3 Torture and other forms of illtreatment is rife in detention in Bangladesh.

All three men are sons of high-profile

senior opposition politicians who were
convicted by the International Crimes Amnesty International calls on the
Tribunal (ICT), a Bangladeshi court es- Bangladesh authorities to:

2 War criminals children hatching conspiracies: Law

minister, The Daily Star, 8 September 2016, available at
http://www.thedailystar.net/country/war-criminals-childrenhatching-conspiracies-law-minister-1282780
3 Odhikar, statistics on enforced disappearances 20092016, available at
http://1dgy051vgyxh41o8cj16kk7s19f2.wpengine.netdnacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/
Statistics_Disappearance_2009-2016.pdf

Mir Ahmed Bin Qasem

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