Bangladesh, UK reject HuJI 'torture' claims
Saturday, 15 May 2010
The British government had no involvement in the 'serious mistreatment' of Gholam Moustafa, an alleged leader of the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), a British High Commission spokesman told bdnews24.com.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry also told the news agency that it had not received any information that Moustafa, a Briton, had been mistreated by its own law-enforcement officers.
Saida Muna Tasneem, a director general of the foreign ministry, said that the government would investigate any allegation passed to it by the British mission.
An article in Wednesday's edition of the UK's Guardian newspaper claimed that Bangladesh authorities had seriously mistreated Moustafa in detention and that officials of MI5, the UK's counter-intelligence agency, might have been complicit.
The newspaper said that according to his family, "Moustafa appeared to have a swollen face when he was paraded before television cameras shortly after his arrest."
It went on to say: "When he appeared in court 11 days later on April 27 a journalist working for the Guardian could see that he was unable to stand throughout the proceedings, at one point sinking to his knees."
It stated that he had told a British consular official that "he had been forced to assume stressful positions for long periods during questioning at a detention centre known as the Interrogation Cell, where the use of torture is alleged to be common."
The newspaper did not set out any actual evidence of British government complicity in the alleged torture.
A spokesman for the British High Commission told this correspondent Thursday that the High Commission first came to know about Moustafa's arrest through a newspaper report on April16, the day after he was detained.
"This was a Friday. On Sunday, April 18, the next working day, we sent a formal request for consular access to the foreign ministry and we followed this up with phone calls," he said.
The High Commission spokesperson said it usually took about six to eight weeks for the Bangladesh government to give consular access.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry also told the news agency that it had not received any information that Moustafa, a Briton, had been mistreated by its own law-enforcement officers.
Saida Muna Tasneem, a director general of the foreign ministry, said that the government would investigate any allegation passed to it by the British mission.
An article in Wednesday's edition of the UK's Guardian newspaper claimed that Bangladesh authorities had seriously mistreated Moustafa in detention and that officials of MI5, the UK's counter-intelligence agency, might have been complicit.
The newspaper said that according to his family, "Moustafa appeared to have a swollen face when he was paraded before television cameras shortly after his arrest."
It went on to say: "When he appeared in court 11 days later on April 27 a journalist working for the Guardian could see that he was unable to stand throughout the proceedings, at one point sinking to his knees."
It stated that he had told a British consular official that "he had been forced to assume stressful positions for long periods during questioning at a detention centre known as the Interrogation Cell, where the use of torture is alleged to be common."
The newspaper did not set out any actual evidence of British government complicity in the alleged torture.
A spokesman for the British High Commission told this correspondent Thursday that the High Commission first came to know about Moustafa's arrest through a newspaper report on April16, the day after he was detained.
"This was a Friday. On Sunday, April 18, the next working day, we sent a formal request for consular access to the foreign ministry and we followed this up with phone calls," he said.
The High Commission spokesperson said it usually took about six to eight weeks for the Bangladesh government to give consular access.