Case BGD 150113
Alleged extrajudicial killing/ Risk of impunity
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Bangladesh.
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by ODHIKAR, a member of OMCT SOS-Torture Network, about the alleged extrajudicial killing, on 18 September 2012, of Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali, a 53-year-old farmer from Bashbaria village in Kushtia district.
According to the information received, on 16 September 2012, at around 8:00 pm a group of individuals in plainclothes, who identified themselves as DB police (Detective Branch) picked up Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali from a tea stall located at shop 15 and 16 of Shah Ali Mazar Market without providing any information. They took him with them on a grey microbus to an unknown location.
On the same day, when Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali’s wife learned about the arrest of her husband she contacted the police with the help of a local journalist. The police reportedly told them that Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali will be brought to Mirpur Police Station and that they have to pay for him to be released. However, the very next day, when she contacted Mirpur Police Station the police said that he was not with them.
According to the testimonies of Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali’s wife and two other interviewed witnesses, on 18 September 2012, at around 3:45 am some gunshots were heard coming from Kursha Eidgah field, just beside Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali’s house. All the testimonies confirmed that the police shot Mr. Mohammad Rahat to death and took the body away on a van to Kushtia General Hospital for a post mortem. The body was later handed over to his family.
According to the same information received, the police forces denied having arrested Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali from Mazar Market on 16 September 2012. Furthermore, the police claimed that Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali was a regional activist and leader of Purbo Bangla Communist Party (ML-Red Flag), one faction of the Purbo Bangla Communist Party[1] and that he was shot and killed in “crossfire” after he and other members of the party, while having a meeting at Kursha Eidgah field regarding some destructive mission, opened fire at them on 18 September 2012 at around 3:45 am.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned about the circumstances surrounding the arrest and killing of Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali, which seem to suggest that he may have been victim of an extrajudicial killing. The police has repeatedly used “crossfire killing” to cover extrajudicial killing. OMCT calls upon the competent authorities to carry out a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events, in accordance with international human rights standards, such as the UN Principle on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, the result of which must be made public, in order to bring those responsible before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal and apply penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law.
OMCT recalls that the authorities have to fulfil their obligations under international human rights law to protect the right to life and to bringing to justice those responsible for violating this right.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Bangladesh urging them to:
i. Carry out a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the arrest and killing of Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali, in accordance with international human rights standards, such as the UN Principle on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, the result of which must be made public, in order to bring those responsible before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal and apply adequate sanctions as provided by law;
ii. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Mohammad Rahat Ali’s family members;
iii. Ensure that an effective remedy, including the right to full redress with compensation, be granted to the victim’s family;
iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
Ø Ms. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, Gona Bhaban, Old Sangsad Bhaban, Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fax: +880 2 8113243, Email: info@pmo.gov.bd
Ø Mr. Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, Minister for Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, H-16, R-25, B-A, Banani Dhaka-1213, Bangladesh, Tel: 880-2-8821334, 9883737, Email: mkalamgir@yahoo.com
Ø Barrister Shafique Ahmed, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fax: +88-02-7168557, Email: info@minlaw.gov.bd
Ø Mr. Hassan Mahmood Khandker, Inspector General of Police, Police Headquarters, Phoenix Road, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh, Fax: +88-02-9563362, 9563363, Email: ig@police.gov.bd
Ø Ambassador Mr. Abdul Hannan, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations in Geneva, 65 rue de Lausanne, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 738 46 16, E-mail: mission.bangladesh@ties.itu.int
Please also write to the embassies of Bangladesh in your respective country.
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Geneva, 15 January 2013
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
[1] The PBCP is a political party founded in the year 1968 following a split in the Bangladesh Communist Party (BCP). With a revolutionary agenda it is outlawed since the time of the military regime of Zia-ur-Rehman.
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