Bangla Press Desk: For the first time in Bangladesh’s history, ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her ex-Defence Adviser Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and 25 former senior securi-ty officials have formally been charged with enforced disappearances that took place during the Awami League regime.
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Wednesday took cognisance of charges in two separate cases, where they are accused of abducting, detaining and torturing Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, Humam Quader Chowdhury, Mir Ah-mad Bin Quasem Arman and Michael Chakma in secret facilities. Hasina and Tarique Siddique are named as common accused in both cases.
Warrants were also issued for the arrest of all the accused as they are abscond-ing.
The three-member ICT-1, headed by its Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, set 22 October for producing the accused before the court.
Most of the accused are former high-ranking officers of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Among them, five are former director generals (DGs) of DGFI and three are former DGs of RAB.
One of the cases was filed over enforced disappearances and torture carried out at the Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) cell, operated by DGFI and RAB, which is located inside the RAB headquarters in the capital’s Uttara area.
Another case was filed over enforced disappearances and torture carried out in the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC), the most notorious torture and secret inter-rogation cell housed inside the DGFI headquarters in Dhaka.
ICT Chief Prosecutor Advocate Muhammad Tajul Islam said the TFI cell and JIC cell captives who became victims of enforced disappearance were referred to by their captors using the code name ‘Monalisa’.
“The captors subjected the victims to brutal torture, including amputation of limbs, pulling out of fingernails, sitting on rotating chairs, and electric shocks,” he told the tribunal during the hearing on formal charges in the two cases.
Tajul Islam further said the captors used code names for various elements of the operations: the detainees were called ‘Monalisa’, enforced disappearance victims were referred to as ‘Subjects’, detention centres for these victims were called ‘Art Gallery’, while other secret detention facilities were referred to as ‘Hospital’ or ‘Clinic’.
Earlier in the morning, the prosecution submitted formal charges against 30 accused. Later, a hearing took place at the tribunal.
The two cases accuse Hasina and her accomplices of overseeing the detention, torture, and disappearance of political opponents at secret facilities.
In one of the cases, 17 people have been charged with abducting opposition ac-tivists and detaining them at the secret TFI cell. The prosecution brought five charges against them for committing crimes against humanity.
Alongside Hasina, Kamal and Tarique Siddique, the other accused in the case are-- former Inspector General of Police (IGP) and RAB DG Benazir Ahmed, two other ex-RAB DGs M Khurshid Hossain and Barrister Md Harun Ur Ra-shid, former Additional DGs of RAB Col Anwar Latif Khan, Brig Gen Md Ja-hangir Alam, Brig Gen Tofayel Mostafa Sarwar, Col KM Azad, Brig Gen Md Qamrul Hasan, Brig Gen Md Mahabub Alam, Col Abdullah Al Momen, former intelligence directors at RAB Lt Col Sarwar Bin Kashem, Lt Col (retd) Mu-hammad Khairul Islam, Lt Col Md Moshiur Rahman Jewel, and Lt Col Saiful Islam Suman.
In another case, Hasina, Tarique Siddique and 11 others have been charged with detaining victims at the JIC cell of DGFI and torturing them. The prosecu-tion brought five charges in the case over the crimes committed at the JIC.
The other accused in the case are-- former DGFI DGs Lt Gen (retd) Moham-mad Akbar Hossain, Maj Gen (retd) Md Saiful Abedin, Lt Gen (retd) Md Saiful Alam, Lt Gen Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury, Maj Gen (retd) Hamidul Haque, former directors at DGFI Maj Gen Mohammad Towhid Ul Islam, Maj Gen Md Sarwar Hossain, Maj Gen Kabir Ahmed, Brig Gen Mahbubur Rah-man Siddique, and Brig Gen Ahmed Tanvir Majhar Siddique, and Lt Col (retd) Makhsurul Haque.
During the Hasina-led autocratic Awami League regime, opposition figures had been taken away and held in secret detention centres without trial.
To investigate cases of enforced disappearances and ‘Aynaghar’ torture, the interim government formed the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disap-pearances in August 2024.
A report of the commission said the investigators had found evidence linking Hasina directly as an instructor of disappearances. The report also named sev-eral of her senior officials, including Tarique Siddique.
Enforced disappearances have taken place in Bangladesh since at least 2009. The commission approximated the total number of enforced disappearances to be 3,500 during Hasina’s 15 and a half years’ rule.
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