7/24/2019 Bangladesh: Terrorizing own people in the name of counter-terrorism

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HRDB NEWSLETTER

The government of Bangladesh has beenusing the police and RAB [Rapid ActionBattalion] to arrest the opposition memberson the pretext of stopping more acts of ter-rorism or other forms of trouble.

The head of Bangladeshs National Human

Rights Commission (NHRC) says it hasreceived complaints that non-criminals areamong hundreds of people arrested by po-lice during ongoing security sweeps.

Given the recent attacks by suspected Is-lamists and an atmosphere of deterioratingsecurity, the government has every right torestore law and order and earn the confi-dence of the people, but the innocent peo-ple must not be the victims, NHRC Chair-man Mizanur Rahman told BenarNewson11 November, 2015.

According to an aggregation of numberspublished in different dailies more than 3000people including many activists of Jamaat-e-

Islami and BNP have been arrested in aspecial drive in differ-ent districts sinceFriday 6th November,2015.

To understand thesituation, it is reallyalarming that 665were arrested onnext day (Saturday, 7Nov, 2015) the policeheadquarters in Dha-ka ordered the spe-cial drive, accordingto Daily Star.

At least 592 more people were arrested on3rd day.

Many members of opposition parties report-edly have been caught up in the sweeps,prompting complaints to the NHRC.

They have been arresting the oppositionmembers, keeping in mind the upcominglocal government elections. Their plan is toget their candidates to win the polls by ar-resting the opposition candidates [and]branding them as criminals and terrorists,

Mahbubur Rahman, a member of the BNPshighest policy-making body, toldBenarNews.

But many members of opposition partiesreportedly have been caught up in thesweeps, prompting complaints to the NHRC.

In recent weeks, in the aftermath of the kill-ings of two foreigners is separate shootings,the killing of a publisher of secular booksand other attacks, officials from the rulingAwami League party have blamed the BNPand Jamaat for fomenting such acts todestabilize the country.

Police also raided the houses of top BNPand Jamaat leaders in different places.The drive is set to continue until further no-tice, said an official at the police HQ wishingnot to be named.

Viber, WhatsApp to be blocked

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reportedly

announced on Wednesday that the popularmessaging and callingapps will be blockedtemporarily to preventterror activities in thecountry.

Hasina said thatblocking WhatsAppand Viber will help theinvestigating agenciesto nab the terrorists,according to The DailyStar.

If the latest app restrictions are implement-

ed, this will be the second time that the gov-ernment has temporarily blocked WhatsApp,Viber, Tango, LINE, and mypeople this year.At the time, the country was experiencing aviolent nationwide transport blockade calledby the main opposition Bangladesh Nation-alist Party (BNP) to protest controversialparliamentary elections in 2014

A local report had then said that the BTRChad blocked access to the popular messag-ing services as the security agencies foundit difficult to track communication over thesenetworks.

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh Newsletter #3-15 15 November 2 15

Bangladesh:Terrorizing own people in thename of counter-terrorism

The government has every

right to restore law and order

and earn the confidence of the

people, but the innocent peo-

ple must not be the victims.

NHRC

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7/24/2019 Bangladesh: Terrorizing own people in the name of counter-terrorism

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The so-called Five Eyes, the world's leading intelligence-sharingnetwork is sharing intelligence with Bangladesh for counter-terrorismstrategy.

Recently accusation has raised that instead of using intelligenceinformation from allied foreign countries for a comprehensivecounter-terrorism strategy, Bangladeshs Government is sus-pected to have misapplied this information against political op-ponents accompanied with severe human rights violations.

Tensions, or at least some kind of disconnection, appeared in the

relationship between Dhakas security circles and foreign intelligenceagencies. More precisely, it seems that there exists some confusions

over how shared intelligence is used by Bangladeshs authorities andsecurity sector agents.

This has been reveled in a recently published article by Siegfried O.Wolf, Senior Researcher (member) at the South Asia Institute (SAI),Heidelberg University.

The Five Eyes are an intelligence sharing network, known for its ex-clusive cooperation among each other. However, in order to face thechallenge of international terrorism, they adopted increasingly thepractice of sharing intelligence with non-Five Eyes members, likeBangladesh, the article mentioned.

There are two major claims: First, human rights organisation (likeAmnesty International, Human Rights Watch) are stating that

Bangladeshs security agents are involved in human rights viola-tions.

Secondly, and closely linked with the previous claim, accusa-tions exist that the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), namelyPrime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League (AL)administration, use foreign intelligence for political purposes.

There are claims that foreign intelligence was handed to the GoB andto its security agents. However, the more problematic claim that thisinformation was supposedly used for partisan reasons to arrest sus-pects, especially political opposition members (Bangladesh NationalistParty/BNP) who maintain close relationship with religious extremistparties like Jamaat-e-Islami, is difficult to prove.

Reports of human rights agencies hint that some detainees facehuman rights violations. Considering the strong polarisation ofstate and society, endemic violence, and a culture of revengebetween the two major political parties AL and BNP, it seems thatthese claims have some substance.

Furthermore, Bangladeshs armed forces have a historical record ofextra judicial, outlaw activities and being highly politicized. This gotfostered due to a widespread culture of impunity dating back to thetime of the countrys independence war, a serious lack of political will,and a gap in institutionalized civilian control over armed forces.

Source: IndraStra Globalhttps://www.indrastra.com/2015/11/FEATURED-Why-Five-Eyes-Should-Not-Turn-Blind-CT-in-Bangladesh-by-Siegfried-O-Wolf-0414.html

Bangladesh misusing

Counter-terrorism intelligence

from foreign sources

BD security agents are involved in human rights violations.

Hasina using foreign intelligence for political purposes.

7 Major Human RightsViolations inBangladesh

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh (HRDB) / email: humanrightsbd@gmail.com

1. Media FreedomThe country's military intelligence DGFI, which the prime ministercontrols, has ordered the major telecommunications and consumercompanies to stop advertising by in the country's two leading inde-pendent newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo.

Bangladesh spies accused of blocking media advertsBangladesh blocks ads, curbs media freedom7 things you need to know about the government advert embargo

2. DisappearancesDuring a single two-week period, in the country's capital city, justbefore the January 2014 election, law enforcement officials picked up19 BNP opposition activists in seven separate incidents. Their wherea-bouts two years on continue to remain unknown.

Picked up a year ago, they are yet to return

3. Recent secret detentions -the Cesare TavellaCaseLaw enforcement agencies have now arrested five men in relation tothe killing of the Italian NGO worker Cesare Tavella, but in each casefamily and independent eye witnesses claim that the men were picked

up between 10 and 15 days before-

and secretly and illegally detainedduring that period -before they were presented to the media (and thecourts).

Four suspects 'detained weeks earlier' than police claim Quayum's brother missing after abductionI was 'tortured to confess', Tamjid tells family

4. Widespread secret detentionsThe secret detentions of the five men in Cesare Tavella case appearsto be just the tip of an iceberg of secret detentions that are reported tobe taking place throughout the country. For example, it has beenreported that the UK citizen, Samiun Rahman, accused last year bythe police of being an IS recruiter,was apparently secretly detained fora weekbefore being brought before the media; and another Britishcitizen,Tawhidur Rahman, accused of involvement in the bloggerkillings, was secretly and illegally detained for three months beforebeing presented to court.

London cab controller arrested as ISIL agent Doubts about arrest of UK man for blogger killings

5. Extra-judicial killingsExtra judicial killings continue to take place -in which investigationssuggest that the law enforcement authorities are simply killing peoplewho are in their detention, and pretending that they are simply 'gun-fights'.

In Bangladesh, a license to killLaw enforcement: Unlawful killing in early 2015

6. Battering the oppositionThe currentgovernment has done everything to weaken and destabi-lize the main opposition parties -even going so far as to blame themfor all the recent killings in Bangladesh, claimed bythe Islamic stateand others. Apart from the disappearances, and the extra-judicialkillingsmentioned above, almost every significant senior oppositionleader hasbeen accused of a criminal offense -are they are now injail , in hiding, or face arrest. There has also been widespread massarrests of thousands of opposition activists. The opposition parties, theBNP and the Jamaat, are unable to operate at all as political parties.

7. ElectionsIt is generally accepted that the controversial 2014 elections, whichwere boycotted by the main opposition parties (after the governmentremoved the constitutional provisions for an election period caretakergovernment) provide only limited democratic legitimacy to the currentgovernment. There were widespread irregularities in the Upazilla andCity Corporation elections which have taken place since then. Theelection commission is widely perceived to lack independence from thegovernment.

International statements on January 2014 electionsEight takeaways from the Mayor electionsUK government slams election commission for high level of fraud

during polls

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