Enforced disappearance commission finds eight secret detention centres

FE Team | Published: December 17, 2024 23:11:42

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance has identified over eight secret detention centres of fallen Awami League era operated by different security agencies in Dhaka and Chattogram, reports BSS.
"To date, we (commission) have identified more than eight secret detention facilities operated by agencies such as (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence) DGFI, (Rapid Action Battalion) RAB, and (Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime) CTTC, where victims were held across the country," the commission report said.
The five-member commission led by retired justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury handed over the report titled 'Unfolding The Truth' to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in the capital on Saturday.
Some of these secret detention centres were found still intact, while others had been destroyed, the commission report said.
It said it conducted visits to twelve offices of various security forces in Dhaka and Chattogram as the purpose of these visits was to inspect interrogation rooms, detention facilities, and equipment; gather information and testimony; and meet with senior officials from law enforcement and security forces.
To safeguard the integrity of the inquiry, the details of these facilities will be disclosed in a future report, it said.
"For now, we can confirm that we visited the following offices: Directorate General of Forces Intelligence; Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime; Detective Branch Headquarters, Dhaka Metropolitan Police; Detective Branch, Chittagong Metropolitan Police; Rapid Action Battalion units 1, 2, 4, 7, and 11, including RAB 2, CPC 3; RAB Forces Headquarters; Chittagong Central Jail; and the National Security Intelligence, Chittagong Division," the report added.
The accounts of torture that have been documented are both profoundly brutal and disturbingly methodical and a notable distinction has emerged between the premises under the management of military officers and those overseen by civil forces, such as the police, it said. In facilities managed by civil forces, such as DB and CTTC, torture was carried out in a manner that integrated it into the daily operations of these offices, the report said.
"Our findings indicate that although specialised torture equipment was used, the acts of torture were conducted routinely within the same space occupied by the security personnel," it said.
"Detainees have reported witnessing officers calmly working at their desks or computers-screams of agony notwithstanding-within close proximity to the areas where torture was being perpetrated, suggesting a disturbing normalisation of such practices at these offices", it said.