Enforced Disappearances: Enquiry commission finds 8 detention centres

The enquiry commission on enforced disappearances announced the discovery of eight secret detention centres in Dhaka and its surrounding areas.
It made the announcement at a press briefing at its office yesterday but refrained from disclosing the ownership of most of the sites to avoid “compromising the ongoing investigation”.
“We found a cell operated by the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) measuring just 3.5 feet by 4 feet. There was no source of light except a small peephole, and no sanitation system except for an open drain, forcing the inhabitant to perform all basic functions there. People had been confined to such cells for years,” said Nur Khan Liton, a member of the commission.
The cell was so small that a person confined inside would not have been able to lie down, or even sit properly, said Liton.
“We found evidence of extended durations of confinement. For example, those held captive had kept count of days by etching on the walls,” he said.
The detention rooms were well-hidden and, in some instances, separate from the holding cells meant for other detainees or arrestees.
“We believe that we will find many more detention centres,” said Nabila Idris, another member of the commission.
“We have not found any detainees held at the detention centres we visited. They were empty,” she added.
Liton said since August 5, “one or two” more people, who were being held captive, were released.
After August 5, lawyer Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, army official Brig Gen (retd) Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, and rights activist Mikel Chakma were released from captivity.
Quasem and Azmi, sons of convicted war criminals Mir Quasem Ali and Ghulam Azam, were both picked up in August 2016 and forcibly disappeared for eight years.
Mikel was confined in 2019 and released after five years.
Commission Chairman Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said they had scrutinised 400 complaints and interviewed 140 people. In total, the commission has received approximately 1,600 complaints.
Of the allegations, 172 were linked with Rab, 37 with the police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, 26 with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, 55 with the Detective Branch of police, 25 with the police, and 68 with “others”, said commission member Sazzad Hossain.
The commission raised concerns about “attempts to destroy evidence” linked to these secret cells.
“Law enforcement agencies are destroying cells and walls. Those involved in this destruction will likely be unwilling to cooperate. Current officers will become complicit in the crimes of their predecessors,” said Nabila.
The commission described how they found detention centres that were defaced, repainted and stripped of attachments that were used to torture people.
“For example, we were taken to a large room. But upon further inspection we found that the room had in fact been divided up into three cells and the walls had been destroyed, and the room plastered,” said Liton.