We demand justice for Afzal Hossain, Shibir leader from Rajshahi

After illegally arresting Rajshahi University Shibir leader Afzal Hossain, police have tortured him using hammers, iron rods and sticks, breaking his arms and legs in the process. Officials of Shibir revealed such shocking allegations against the police at a press briefing on the 26th of May, 2014. They strongly protested the incident perpetrated by the security forces.

The briefing said that police had arrested two Shibir activists, Afzal Hossain and Shahiduzzaman without any reason whatsoever on Saturday, the 24th of May, 2014. Afzal Hossain, sports secretary of Shibir at Rajshahi University was going on his motorcycle at Talaimari area beside the university at 9:30 pm when he was apprehended by security forces. However, police initially denied their arrest. In the meantime, Motihar thana police tortured Afzal using hammers, iron rods and sticks, breaking his arms and legs in the process. Despite the barbaric nature of the above, the police further claimed back then that he had been arrested from a ‘gunfight’ , and had taken Afzal at the dead of the night to a quiet area and shot his leg to prove their claim of a ‘cop catches terrorist during gunfight’ story.

Picture: Afzal Hossain beside the grave of Sharizzaman Nomani, killed by BCL goons at Rajshahi

Despite the vehement falsification, the news version produced by police has been circulating in the some news media for quite some time. There is a great need to examine and condemn the barbaric nature of the police which they have displayed in arresting opposition activists, especially Shibir activists. It will be wise to remember that just a few days ago, Jessore City Shibir president Jahidul Islam Mondol was similarly unwarrantedly detained by police and later shot in the leg in the dead of the night of 13th May 2014, the very day after his father Abul Khayer travelled to Jessore Press Club and pleaded with the police to not make his son a victim of 'crossfire'. Today, he has been rendered crippled. He was among six Shibir activists shot by police with firearms within 22 days in Jessore. The question remains, what was his fault?

Picture: Jahidul Islam Mondol, Jessore City Shibir President

What is the fault of Afzal Hossain? That he was an activist of Shibir? That he protested the injustices in the society by raising his voice? Who will take blame for such incidents of imaginary gunfights and fairytales of crossfire being regularly spun by the security forces with the full blessings of the government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed, self proclaimed daughter of peace, against her rivals and opposition activists?

Its time for the world to speak up. International rights groups like the Human Rights Watch have demanded an end to the injustice in the name of justice. Raise your voice. Condemn this barbarity. 

Government behind it all - Killing and abductions continue unabated in Bangladesh

On the 19th of April, at a seminar organized at Spectra Convention Center in Dhaka on shaping and implementing community policies to combat climate change, Information minister Hasanul Haq Inu came up with another great piece of information. He claimed that “to combat climate change, we first and foremost need to equip and enhance our abilities to control and combat terrorism.”

Ridiculous as the above statement may sound, Inu has been minister for quite some time now, and it is his second term in the cabinet of Sheikh Hasina. Hasanul Haq Inu, leader of one faction of the little known communist political outfit Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) is known for his vocal condemnations of terrorism in Bangladesh, a phenomenon which he repeatedly expounds as being a result of religious extremism championed by Islamic radicals, who according to him are everywhere to be seen in Bangladesh and are being maintained and financed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islam based political party in Bangladesh. He is also known for his voluminous accusatory tirades against BNP and Khaleda Zia, the opposition political force to the Awami League and the 14 party Grand Alliance, of which he is party.

People like Inu (despite being politically insignificant, Inu remains an important switch for controlling the media and information flow in Bangladesh) serve a great cause, one of diverting the masses from the real problems at hand, especially the current huge problem of deteriorating law and order in Bangladesh.

The fact that Inu and other politicians of the ruling political force, the Awami League, are relatively silent on the deteriorating law and order situation in the country, speaks volumes about their hypocrisy. Put into the equation that most of the incidents of abduction and killings occurring are a result of internal feuds within the numerous factions within the Awami League, and the fact that government institutions such as the police and other security forces are been used in these incidents, and the picture becomes crystal clear. Let us investigate some recent incidents that make the picture all clear.

Jubo League leader arranged JMB kingpin's escape in Mymensingh:

An upazila-level Jubo League leader arranged safe passage for death row Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader Rakib Hasan Russell after he was snatched along with two other key leaders of the banned militant outfit in Mymensingh in February. Ataur Rahman Kamal, joint secretary of Bhaluka upazila unit of Jubo League, formed a six-member team to pick up Rakib from Trishal and drop him at Fulbaria in Mymensingh, said an arrestee, Kamal Hossain alias Sabuj, 38, also claimed to be involved with "Awami League politics" while talking to reporters. He was one of the eight people nabbed in different parts of the country on April 29, 2014, in connection with the sensational snatching of the JMB men.

Narayangonj seven murder:

On April 27th, 2013, Awami League supported ward-2 councillor and Narayangonj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, his four aides, and senior local lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar and his car’s driver were abducted in Narayanganj. The bodies of the seven were retrieved from the Shitalakhyya River at Bandar Upazila several days later.

The slain councillor’s family accused Nur Hossain, locally known to be Nazrul's rival, of being the mastermind, who paid the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to carry out the killings. The son of a powerful Awami League lawmaker and cabinet post holder, brokered the deal with RAB men to kill Nazrul Islam, claimed Nazrul's father-in-law Shahidul Islam on May 6, 2014.

The MP's son acted on behalf of Narayanganj ward-4 Councillor Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the sensational abduction and murder case. Shahidul said a double agent had disclosed to him the plot to kill Nazrul for Tk 6 crore. The money was paid to the killers about a week before the abduction of Nazrul and his four aides on April 27 and their subsequent killing.

Despite an initial outrage from the RAB to the above information, police on May 17 arrested ex-RAB officers Lt Col (retd) Tareque Sayeed Mohammad and Major (retd) Arif Hossain  and on May 18 arrested another suspect, ex-Rab officer Lt Commander (retd) SM Masud Rana, at Dhaka Cantonment under Section 54 of the CrPC, not in the murder case. After much dilly dallying, the police accused them of involvement in the Narayanganj septuple murder case 5 days later.

In the mean time, the police have not been able to arrest any of the other six accused in the murder case. The exposure of the corrupt administrative and political apparatus in Bangladesh continues to unfold as direct involvement of current Narayangonj MP Shamim Osman have surfaced in aiding and abetting the fleeing of prime suspect Nur Hossain to India. (see leaked phone call between Shamim Osman and Nur Hossain) 

Phulgazi upazila Chairman shot, hacked and burnt to death:

Ekramil Haque, 45, Phulgazi upazila chairman and President of the Fulgazi upazila unit Awami League, was killed by shooting and hacking before burning the car he was in at Phulgazi in Feni on 20th May, 2013, Tuesday morning (Warning: Graphic picture in inset)

Picture: Charred remains of Chairman Ekramul Haque 

Three others, including a journalist, who were accompanying Ekramul Haque in the microbus on his way to the upazila council office from his house, were also injured as the group of about 50 people first exploded crude bombs and shot at the vehicle.

As the car stopped, the group dragged and chased away the three and hacked Ekramul and burnt the car with him lying inside about 11:00am. The police later recovered the charred body.

While his family say they have been forced to name local BNP leaders in the murder case all fingers remain pointed at his rivals within the party. Police investigation has opened the Pandora’s Box in this regard, as arrestees have confessed that all the men participating in the attack were loyal to Feni-2 MP Nizam uddin Hazari, with whom Ekramul had fallen out over control of the lucrative drug trade and other forms of illegal trade in the border area of Phulgazi. Digging deeper into the incident, it was found that Ekramul had hastened the need for his elimination by trying to ally with Joynal Hazari, a well known Awami League godfather in the region, who was in turn already at loggerheads with present cabinet minister Obaidul Quader and his man in the area, Nizam uddin Hazari MP.

Information from various sources reveals that Obaidul Quader has an income of about 50 crore per month from Feni, Phulgazi being an important point of control in this regard. Not only had Ekramul alienated the duo of Obaidul Quader and Nizam Hazari by refusing to pay them a share, he had also enraged the duo by publishing news containing sensitive information in the local newspapers against them. Corrupt journalists, armed with such information, on approaching Nizam Hazari MP, became silent after he agreed to pay them handsome amounts of money in return. As for Ekramul, the MP along with Obaidul Quader decided to finish him for once and all. The subsequent barbequing of Ekramul Haque was the result, and news has it that 2 crore taka was paid for carrying out the job. Just a day before the incident, i.e. on the 19th of May, 2013, the Hazarika Protidin, a news outlet owned by Joynal Hazari (allied with Ekramul Haque) ran news of the probability of the murder of the opponents of Nizam Hazari, i.e. Ekramul.

Picture: News of Hazarika Protidin with claims that opponents of Nizam MP to be killed 

That is what exactly happened.

Widespread reaction and anger:

Despite all this, the inspector general of police, Hassan Mahmood Khandker on Friday the 23rd of May, 2013, claimed that crime prevention campaign was at a satisfactory level. His comments drew sharp criticism from human rights defenders.

Rights activists said that the IGP had made the claims to ‘save his job and skin’ and his claims were far from realities. Such comments were tantamount to giving indulgence to criminals, they said adding that the police had failed to ensure safety of citizens.

The incidents have been condemned by all major parties, including BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. Sadly, homegrown opposition figures maintained by the government like Rowshon Ershad and Hasanul Haque Inu have largely remained silent and have even defended the actions of the government and its security forces.  

Picture: Jamaat condemnation and call for nationwide protests

Condemnations of the recent incidents have not been limited to Bangladesh, as international human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch have voiced their anger and shock at the events and the widespread impunity involved and demanded immediate action action.

The Awami League has befittingly remained silent. 

Jamaat supported UP member extra-judicially killed by government forces in Jhenaidah

Four days after being abducted by men claiming to be members of Kothchandpur Detective Branch (DB) of Police, the dead bullet ridden body of a Jamaat-e-Islami supported Union Parishad member was discovered by police at Mamunshia village under Sadar upazila of Jhenaidah district on Monday morning.

The deceased was identified as Hafez Abul Kalam, 40, Union Parishad member of 8 no. ward Elangi union under Kotchandpur upazila of Jhenaidah district and resident of the area. 

Gopalpur Police in charge Shibupod Prasad said that his men recovered the body from a field of Bakultala area of the Mamunshia village after being informed by locals at around 6 am. He confirmed that the dead body of the UP member had been shot and there were signs where bullets had entered through his chest and neck.

Kotchandpur district OC Fazlur Rahman said that there were 9 political cases lodged against the deceased including attack on police, weapons confiscation and setting fire to Awami League offices.

"Crossfire" for 4 lakh taka ? 

Abul Kalam’s family however, had a different story to tell. They informed the media that Abul Kalam had been initially abducted and later killed by state security forces themselves. Abul Kalam’s body was found within 72 hours of being arrested by the police. As per the personal statement of his wife Hasina Begum, her husband was taken away by Kotchandpur police led by S.I. Mizan at 11 am on Friday the 18th of April.

Hasina Begum said, “Since my husband was at home bare-chested, I wanted to give him a shirt as he was being taken away, but the police refused. At the time of the arrest, S.I. Mizan was wearing a white Bangla New Year fotuwa (short sleeved light garment). After being arrested, he was first taken to Gurpara police camp and tortured. When people began to gather hearing the screams of the tortured man, police promptly lathi-charged and dispersed the gathering. They then carried him away to an unknown location in a white microbus (Dhaka Metro-Gha-11-2231). That was the last I heard of my husband.”      

When a relative of the family of the abducted person communicated with S.I. Mizan, he demanded 4,00,000 taka at one point for ensuring that Abul Kalam would be brought up to court and not killed in a “crossfire” incident. Due to the fact that it was the weekend Friday-Saturday holiday, the banks were closed and the family was unable to gather the money demanded by the police officer. They managed to raise around 70,000 – 75,000 taka from their fellow villagers, but sadly, this was not enough to appease the police officer who had threatened to kill Abul Kalam. Affirmatively, he returned four days later, a dead body.             

Picture: Face of the Shaheed at his Namaaz-e-janaza.

Local Jamaat called for a dawn to dusk shutdown on Tuesday in Kotchandpur and Maheshpur upazilas of the district protesting the extrajudicial killing of UP member Hafez Abul Kalam and demanding justice for the deceased. His namaaz-e-janaza was attended by hundreds of people at his native village.

Picture: Hundreds of people at the namaaz e janaza of Abul Kalam

We strongly protest the continued trend of disappearances and  extrajudicial killings taking place with the blessings of the illegal regime in Bangladesh and ask for human rights organisations both nationwide and worldwide along with common citizens to raise their voices against the widespread abuse of human rights happening right now in the country. 

Murdered by the state, Jamaat leader Aminul Islam's dead body found: The implications

State forces under the guidance of the government of Sheikh Hasina killed labour leader Aminul Islam, aged 40, on the 4th of April 2012. The world saw the brutality with which he was killed. His body was recovered a day later and identified by his family from photographs on the 6th of April. His only fault was that he stood up for the rights of his fellow workers, against the might of the state, against the injustice. See this exhaustive chronological report on the murder of the well known labor rights activists Aminul Islam, a case which remains ‘unsolved’ by the security forces which killed him. 

Today, about 1.5 years later, the dead body of another Aminul Islam has been found, this time at Sitakunda in Chittagong. Police ‘recovered’ the bullet-hit body of Aminul Islam Amin, aged 40, secretary of Barabkunda union unit of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, from Kasaipara in the upazila around 1:30 pm. Local Jamaat leader Anwar Siddiqui Chowdhury confirmed that members of Detective Branch of police arrested Aminul from a restaurant in Chouddagram upazila of Comilla on November 17 during a stopover while he along with his wife was returning to Chittagong from Dhaka by a bus. He was not seen since. The body was found next to a slaughter house next to the Dhaka Chittagong highway at Panthotila area. The body of the previously abducted leader was found gagged and bullet ridden.

Picture: Aminul Islam Amin

Aminul Islam Amin is the not the first, nor definitely an isolated case. Police and BGB at Sitakunda, along with security forces at all places in the country have not hesitated in using live ammunition in the dispersal of crowds of protesters who tried to exercise their democratic right to protest peacefully. The hypocrisy this government has shown in keeping its mouth shut on the barrage of deaths that have occurred over the past few weeks show the inherent autocratic tendency of this government when it ordered security forces to use live fire upon public demonstrations, granting impunity to the killers at will. Helpful in this regard has been the role of the government compliant media (which have been kept open by the Government) in covering up these deaths under the cloak of reactionary action to public unrest.    

Picture: Body of Jamaat leader Aminul Islam lying beside Dhaka-Chittagong highway, gagged and bullet ridden

Picture: Close view of body of Jamaat leader Aminul Islam lying beside Dhaka-Chittagong highway, gagged and bullet ridden. Notice that he is blind folded too. Will human rights organisations take notice? This is outrageous!!! 

Will the world not condemn this extrajudicial killing? Will the family of this leader who stood up to the injustice and rampant corruption of the police and administration not get justice? It is with a heavy heart that we shall conclude that there is little hope in this regard, as long as the world powers, led by India and the United States continue to adamantly support this autocratic government that has defied every tenet of democracy in the book, and under whose rule countless activists, businessmen, academics, rights workers et al have been subject to unwarranted detainment, torture and oppression. We demand justice. And to that end we demand the removal of this regime. We urge the foreign powers to look beyond their own selfish interests, the victims of which have been the common people of Bangladesh, whose voices ever remain gagged.