A report from the rights group says a special force is accused of at least 700 deaths since 2004
BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Bangladesh must end extrajudicial executions by a special police force implicated in the torture and deaths of hundreds of people, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
A new report from the rights group said the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) - which allegedly receives equipment from foreign states including China, Italy and the United States, and training from Britain - has been accused of killing at least 700 people since its inception in 2004.
The unit was set up as a response to a breakdown in law and order in parts of Bangladesh.
At least 200 of the deaths occurred in the last two years, mostly in the capital Dhaka, despite the current Awami League government’s pledge to end the violence, the report said.
“Hardly a week goes by in Bangladesh without someone being shot by RAB with the authorities saying they were killed or injured in ‘crossfire’ or a ‘gun-fight’,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty’s Bangladesh researcher.
“However the authorities choose to describe such incidents, the fact remains that they are suspected unlawful killings,” he added.
Former detainees told Amnesty how they were routinely tortured in custody, suffering beatings, food and sleep deprivation, and electric shocks, until they confessed.
Yet the RAB has consistently denied responsibility for unlawful killings, and has never been challenged or sanctioned.
VICTIMS BLAMED
Investigations into the killings, whether handled by the RAB itself or a government-appointed body, remain secretive, according to Amnesty. The blame is put squarely on the victims, who are dubbed criminals and their deaths portrayed as justified, the report said.
Home ministry officials told the rights group all deaths had been the subject of a judicial inquiry as required by law. “None of the judicial inquiry reports found opening of fire by RAB as unjustified,” they said.
The report documents the case of four men taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on July 10, 2009, with gunshot wounds. The RAB claimed they were injured during a gunfight with its officers, but their families and local witnesses said they had been arrested hours before they were injured. One died and the other three were sent to jail for illegal possession of firearms.
“One of the survivors told a human rights organisation that RAB had forced them to stand in front of a tree before shooting them, some just below the knee,” Amnesty said.
Impunity is not limited to the RAB, according to the report. At least 30 people have been killed in police-only operations since 2010, it said, with police portraying the deaths as “shootouts” or “gunfights”.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke of a “zero tolerance” policy towards extrajudicial killings soon after coming to power, yet the executions continue, Amnesty said.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
