Enforced disappearances: Inquiry commission finds 8 detention centres

The inquiry commission on enforced disappearances found eight secret detention centres in Dhaka and its surrounding areas.
At a press briefing at its office yesterday, it refused to disclose which agencies ran most of those centres “for the sake of 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 an open drain, forcing the detainee 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 is so small that a person 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.
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.
Liton said since August 5, “one or two” more people, who were being held, were released.
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 their walls. Those involved in this destruction will likely be unwilling to cooperate. Current officers may 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 equipment used for torturing people.
“For example, we were taken to a large room. But upon further inspection, we learnt that the room had actually been three cells, but the walls were later torn down, and the room was plastered again,” said Liton.