Extra-judicial Killings and Custodial Torture : From 'Cross-fire' to 'Death-squad'
By Dr. K. M. A. Malik (UK)
Introduction
Bangladesh started its journey as an independent country with constitutional and political commitment to safeguard the human rights for all its citizens. Unfortunately, what we have been witnessing over the years is a serious disregard for this commitment without any exception whether the country was ruled by a 'democratic', 'military' or 'civilian-military' government. Lack of respect for democratic norms and values, denial of space for opposing political views, and marginalising the weaker sections of the society (religious and ethnic minorities, extreme poor such as slum dwellers, etc) have created the conditions that allow different state organs and powerful sections of the society to violate human rights more or less on a routine basis, without any accountability. There are laws against all kinds of human rights violations but the policing and justice systems are weak and often subservient to the government of the day. The 'violators' in most cases go scot-free because they either belong to the ruling party/clique or have enough money and influence to escape the net of justice.
Present Situation
The present Awami League (AL)-led government came into power through the controversial general elections held at the end of December 2008. During the previous Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government (2001-2006), the AL and its allies (at home and abroad) were highly critical about the then human rights violations in the country. They waged a relentless national and international campaign against the BNP-led government, especially for the alleged state-sponsored atrocities against the religious minorities and women. They were also highly vocal against the lawlessness, and arbitrary detention and torture of political opponents. Unlawful killings of alleged criminals by the law enforcers such as the police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were particularly criticised.
An important aspect of the pre-election campaign of AL and its allies was to uphold the principles of universal human rights. They promised to strengthen democratic governance, to respect opposing political views, to allow freedom of media, to stop unlawful practices by the law enforcers and various government agencies ('cross-fires', 'encounters', etc), to fight against corruption, not to interfere with judicial and electoral process, not to 'politicise' the government machineries, and to ensure a society based on equal rights and justice for all. These steps, among many others, were supposed to fulfil their electoral slogan of 'Din Bodol' or a qualitative change in the political and social culture of the country.
But what are the realities after 1 year and 5 months of rule by the current AL-led government? Has the government been successful, even sincere, in adopting and implementing the necessary political, legal and administrative measures required to fulfil its electoral promises in the area of human rights in Bangladesh?
The questions that are often raised in discussing the human rights issues in Bangladesh involve several areas. The most common topics are political and intellectual freedom for individuals and groups, media freedom, rule of law, fight against corruption, custodial deaths and torture, BSF killings of Bangladesh nationals in the border regions, violence in academic institutions by the ruling party 'cadres', rights of workers, equal opportunity and justice for all citizens, etc. It is not possible to comment on all the above issues in a limited time and scope; I shall therefore, highlight, in this essay, only the issue of extra judicial killings and custodial torture by the state organs, and the callous attitude of government leaders towards this issue.
Extra-judicial killings
[Extrajudicial killings: the illegal killing of leading political, trades union, dissidents, and social figures by either the state government, state authorities like the armed forces and police or criminal outfits such as the Italian Mafia – Wikipedia]
The barbaric practices of extra-judicial killings and custodial torture have existed and still exit in many countries of the world. In Bangladesh, these practices started right after the country's independence and have continued till today, with different intensities at different times. The elite 'RAB' was formed by the last BNP government in 2004 to fight serious crimes along with the police forces. They were successful to some extent in their stated missions including the arrests of some notorious militants and criminals, but in many cases they were alleged to have tortured detainees and killed many suspected criminals and extreme 'left-wing' activists without any trial ('cross-fire', 'encounter', 'shootout', or 'gunfight'). This unlawful practice reached a new height during the Moinuddin-Fakhruddin semi-military regime (2007-2008), and this has also continued during the present AL government.
According to the human rights forum 'Law and Salish Centre', during the first year of AL rule (January – December, 2009), total 229 persons were killed by crossfire. The other organization 'Odhikar' puts the number of extra-judicial killings by law enforcers at 154 for the same period. Of these people, "41 were reportedly killed by RAB, 75 by police, 25 jointly by the RAB-Police, 3 by Army, 2 by Ansar, 1 by Jail Police and 1 by Forest Guards, 5 were under the custody of BDR and 1 was a coast guard. Of the 154 killed, 35 were killed while they were in custody of the law enforcement agencies." The number given by 'Odhikar' is lower than that cited by the 'Law and Salish Centre', but the exact figure, probably much higher than those reported in the media, may never be known. A large number of detainees and prisoners die due to torture during interrogations, but the official version for such death is 'heart attack', 'suicide' or similar causes!
The large number of 'unnatural' deaths of prisoners accused of BDR rebellion is a case in point. The number of deaths cited in the above paragraph does not include the custodial deaths of BDR prisoners. According to Odhikar documentation, a total of 51 BDR members have died since the February 2009 mutiny till 31 December 2009. Among them, 26 BDR members died while in custody, of which 6 have allegedly died due to torture. Some sources suggest that the 'unnatural deaths' of BDR members in custody are close to 100 up to the present time (the investigations and trial process are still in progress). We do not know how many of the thousands of detainees were illegally tortured, but considering the culture of our 'crime investigators' one may presume that the number would run into hundreds, if not thousands.
A report in The Bangladesh Today on May 16, 2010, says, "Two more outlawed party leaders were killed in 'gunfight' with RAB in Pabna and Kushtia on Saturday taking the total of such extra judicial killings to 124 in over nine months from August 1, 2009 to May 15, 2010. With this 32 extra judicial killings took placed in the year of 2010." The report also quoted the RAB DG as saying recently that "as many as 622 people were killed in 'crossfire' since the formation of RAB on March 26, 2004."
Torture on prisoners
National and international laws prohibit the use of intimidation, mental and physical torture of any detainee or prisoner by the state agencies. The whole world has condemned, quite rightly, such practices by the US authorities pursued especially to extract information from the Iraqi, Afghan and other prisoners in different open and secret detention centres and prisons. Unfortunately, these practices are followed by most governments of the world including those considered as democratic and civilized. Client states of the imperialist powers are 'especially notorious' in violating the fundamental human rights of political prisoners and other persons detained under various pretexts.
In Bangladesh, like other third world countries, inflicting different kinds of mental and physical torture is a routine procedure to extract information from the accused persons in detention. The practice started in the country during the first AL regime (1972-75) and has continued unabated till today. It reached a tragic stage during the army-led emergency regime (2007-2008), when hundreds of top political leaders and businessmen were mentally and physically tortured in detention. Serious physical injuries were inflicted by torture on many leading politicians, including Tareq Rahman, former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son and BNP's Senior Joint Secretary General. More than 70,000 political workers at grass-root levels were thrown into prison without any concrete charges. Due process of law was also denied to them.
We had wished that the culture of arbitrary detention and torture of detainees and prisoners would stop after the AL and allies came to power in January 2009. Unfortunately, this has not happened and the practice continues with greater ferocity. DGFI and other security forces including police and RAB have been entrusted to the party loyalists and some of the members are seen to be enthusiastic more in arresting and torturing suspected criminals, activists of opposition political parties and journalists who write reports critical of AL and its youth organisations than in assisting the government to run according to the principles of democracy, justice and universal human rights.
Odhikar has compiled a report (from print media) with 68 proven cases of custodial torture during 2009. Three of such cases included here do suggest that those who are supposed to uphold the law are often themselves the violators.
(1) On 28 April, 2009, a leader of BNP's youth wing named Ziaul Haq of Sreenagar under Munshiganj district was blindfolded, tied up and tortured by police over a over a land dispute.
(2) On June 11, 2009, standing in Court, Former MP Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu, who was arrested in connection with the Pilkhana killings case, stated that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had severely tortured him after taking him into remand and told him that if he did not provide a confessional statement during remand, he would end up being killed in 'crossfire'.
(3) On October 22, 2009, a Staff Reporter of the New Age, F M Masum was arrested by plain-clothed RAB officers from his rented house at Jatrabari and tortured. Officers of RAB-10 in plain clothes went to Masum's residence called on him to open the main collapsible gate. They beat Masum because there was a delay in opening the gate. When Masum told them that he was a journalist, the RAB officers tied up his hands and legs and beat him even more. Later on, the RAB officers took the injured Masum to the RAB-10 office where they locked him up in a small room and tortured him further.
Custodial torture on women
Treatment of women prisoners are even worse than that meted out to male prisoners. There is no reliable statistics on the number of women prisoners and the number abused while in custody. They are probably supposed not to exist in our society. However, it is widely known that common abuses to women prisoners involve the denial of food and bed, and on many occasions, rape, especially to women from poor sections of the society. Many are held in prison without any concrete charges or trial for months and years, under sub-human conditions. In recent years, high profile women prisoners including the family members of some leading political figures were ill-treated in prison and many were denied bails pending trial.
A ghastly incident happened last year when a young mother (the daughter of one person sent to death for involvement in the Sheikh Mujib murder case) was taken into custody on fabricated charges. Lurid stories about her personal and family life involving a former DGFI officer (sacked by the new AL government) were released to some 'yellow' media outlets (by some rogue elements within the security forces) in order to humiliate and disgrace her socially. She and her baby child were mishandled in the presence of media photographers. She was tortured and allegedly gang-raped while in custody. And this happened under the supervision of some beastly elements within the security forces. I am not aware of any print media publishing this barbaric act of gang-rape for fear of reprisals, but I heard the story from a very reliable source. The story may or may not be true, but it is utterly believable considering the revenge-seeking mindset of the AL government.
Ghosts of Death Squads?
[Death squads are often, but not exclusively, associated with the violent political repression under dictatorships, totalitarian states and similar regimes. They typically have the tacit or express support of the state, as a whole or in part. Death squads may comprise a secret police force, paramilitary group or official government units with members drawn from the military or the police. They may also be organized as vigilante groups. – Wikipedia]
During 1960s and 1970s, many countries in South and Latin America witnessed the operation of right wing 'Death squads' to create havoc and mayhem in those countries. The main targets were political opponents of the government in power, left-wing dissidents and rebels, trade unionists, homeless street children, student activists and human rights defenders. Even some liberal-minded church leaders who opposed the US hegemony and US-sponsored/supported military/semi-fascist regimes in the region were targeted for physical elimination. Thousands of innocent people were abducted, tortured, murdered or 'disappeared' by these 'faceless' squads, mostly under state sponsorship and/or with of connivance of rulers in power, particularly in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador and Honduras. The full extent of these crimes came into light only after democratic governments were restored to power in these countries and the US changed its policy of unconditional support to its puppets in the regions.
The countries of South Asia have also witnessed the practice of extra-judicial killings and operation of secret assassination squads at different times. This happened mostly in war-torn regions in Sri Lanka, India-administered Kashmir, India's north east, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattishgarh and several other states, Nepal, and N.W. Pakistan. Both the government security agencies and their violent opponents/dissidents/rebels have resorted to these practices, but at a much lower scale than in the South and Latin American countries.
In Bangladesh we have witnessed random violence and unlawful killings from the beginning, but systematic abduction and murder by 'unknown' groups has never been a national security problem. But things appear to be changing now.
The nature of some recent incidents of mysterious abduction and murder is of great concern to us. In these incidents, 'unknown' group of people, without disclosing their identity, take away people from their houses or other places. After a few days, the corpses of the victims are found in different remote places – under the soil or on water bodies. Three bodies of such victims were recently found buried under soil near the river bank about 2 miles west of Mohammadpur, Dhaka. One of the dead persons was later identified as a local activist of BNP. Commenting on this and other incidents, the BNP Chairperson, Khaleda Zia, alleged that "secret killings are going on in the country as prevailed during the 1972-75 rule of Awami League." She also alleged that are local leaders and workers of her party are particular target of secret killings.
The police and RAB deny their involvement in such incidents of abduction and killings. But the question remains: who are these 'unknown' people who abduct and kill people and then dispose of the dead bodies in remote areas? Is there any vigilante or terrorist group within the ruling party's unruly and violence-prone student/youth 'cadres' who have started this ugly game or some rogue elements within police or army are responsible for these crimes? Are there any foreign hands trying to introduce a new dimension of terrorism to destabilize the country further?
It is perhaps too early to draw any serious conclusions regarding the matter. But it may be fatal if we ignore the symptoms of this new kind of terrorism.
Dubious role of the government
The government position on the issue seems to be dubious, to say the least. The home minister Ms Sahara Khatum denies about the existence of extra-judicial killings and custodial torture, whilst some other ministers have condoned the law enforcers' actions as 'acts of self-defence'.
Obviously the government has come under severe criticism because of its denial mode and inaction to prevent the incidents of unlawful torture and killings. A front page report in the New Age last week (May 13, 2010), said that four suspected criminals were killed by the Rapid Action Battalion and the police in 'crossfire' at Gandaria and Mirpur in the capital Dhaka and in the Kushtia Town the day before. An editorial in the same newspaper the following day (May 14) commented, "The official account of these deaths was, needless to say, the same cock-and-bull story: the law enforcers raided a hideout of criminals, came under fire and retaliated; after the gunfight had ended, the suspects were found riddled with bullet, taken to hospital and declared dead by on-duty doctors."
On December 4, 2009, the High Court issued an order on the authorities not to kill any more people in 'crossfire' or 'encounter' until it hears a rule it issued suo motto on the government in connection with extrajudicial killings on November 17, 2009. But the government has not yet stopped this practice. The New Age also reported that 27 killings happened since the High Court had passed its order.
I shall conclude this essay with an extract from the New Age editorial (May 14, 2010). It says, "While the government continues to condone extrajudicial killings on one pretext or the other, thereby reinforcing the pervasive sense of impunity among members of the law enforcement agencies, the blatant disregard for law by the law enforcers seems to have assumed a new dimension. According to another report ….., the additional chief judicial magistrate of Natore issued warrants of arrest for 12 policemen and seven others for killing a 32-year old man and then trying to pass it on as a death in crossfire. The victim was arrested on July 23 last year and killed three days later. The police tried to portray him as a victim of crossfire and even filed a case along this line four days after the killing. However, a judicial inquiry confirmed that the man 'was not killed in crossfire' but 'was tortured to death at the police station in a planned way.' What is apparent is that the police seem to have started believing they can remain above and beyond the law for any killing so long as they can pass it on as having taken place in 'crossfire'."
The editorial comments continues, "The frightful development can very well be attributed to the sustained government inaction, a result of either inability or unwillingness, with regard to putting an end to extrajudicial killings, although it is one of the ruling party's electoral pledges. The incumbents have not only failed to rein in the trigger-happy law enforcers but also virtually shielded them from the highest court of law by delaying response to one rule after another. The highest judiciary, on the other hand, seems to have lost the zeal, allowing the government to carry on with its foot-dragging over the issue. It could very well be that the government's obvious indulgence and the highest judiciary's apparent indifference may have further emboldened the marauding law enforcers to continue with extrajudicial killings."
We thank the New Age Editor for highlighting a very serious aspect of human rights violation in Bangladesh, although he himself (as well as the editor of Amar Desh) was targets of physical attack by some unknown thugs. We urge upon all the democratic forces in the country to unite and oppose the human rights violations whatever may be the form.
Notes:
(1) The essay is based on the author's key-note speech in a conference on 'The Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh" organised by Bangladesh Centre Social Development for at Ibrahim College Auditorium (London) on May 19, 2010.
(2) The author is a former Professor of Dhaka University (BD) and Lecturer, Cardiff University (UK). He lives in Cardiff, UK, and may be contacted by e-mail: kmamalik@aol.com]
__._,_.___