At about 8 p.m. on December 4, 2013, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir were picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers outside a building under construction in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon was the only post-holder for the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), and according to family members, the only one with a criminal case filed against him; the others were all supporters and activists. There were two other men present at the time, but they managed to escape.

One of the two men who escaped said that the meeting had been called by Sumon. RAB officers arrived soon after:

“For 40 or 45 minutes we were chatting. We were talking about the momentum of protest. After that, four of the men left by foot, leaving four of us—Tanvir, Sumon, myself, and [name withheld] behind. Two of us then went to the other side of a cement mixing machine to have a smoke. Suddenly we saw vehicles approaching. There was more than one car, but I can’t say exactly how many. There were some men in black uniforms who came out of the vehicles. They had weapons. The cars had their lights on so I could see the men, the color of their uniform. There was one car with “RAB-1″ written on it. I am sure that it was definitely RAB because of the clothes, and because I saw RAB-1 logo on the car. I could make out that people were being taken into a vehicle and that it left.”¹

A construction worker at the site who witnessed the detention said he knew Tanvir because the family owned the property and had seen Sumon earlier. He said:

“Tanvir and Sumon were still standing there talking when the vehicles came. Four of the men [who came down from the vehicle] wore civil dress and another seven or eight were dressed in the black clothing of RAB, with a cloth around the head. All the men had guns. Sumon and Tanvir were both beaten up before they were put in the car. “Why you are arresting us, we are not these type of people,” they said at the time of being picked up.”²

Six hours later, early the following morning, a contractor said he was returning from a night shift to Shaheen Bagh, the area where Sumon’s family lives, when he saw Sumon, whom he knew well, inside a car that he thought belonged to law enforcement authorities.³

Sumon was not at that time staying at his home in Shaheen Bagh because he feared arrest, and was instead living with his cousin, Tanvir, at their apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon’s sister, Sanjida Islam, said that they first heard that Sumon had been picked up when her family in Shaheen Bagh received a call from her aunt, Tanvir’s mother:

“My aunt said that it was RAB. Within half an hour my older sister, my husband, and my mother went to the RAB office in Uttara. I was pregnant at the time so I did not go. RAB people at the gate did not allow my family members in. The men at the reception denied they were involved in the detention. My sister, father, and mother stayed outside the RAB office throughout that night, and for the next three days one family member or the other was present outside the RAB office.”⁴

At about 11 p.m., one of the two men who had escaped being picked up came to their house though the back entrance. He told the family that Sumon had been taken away in RAB vehicles. The following day, Sanjida said that family members went to file a complaint with police:

“The next day my mother and older sister went to our local police station in Tejgaon to file a GD but the police said that they had to go to the police station of the PO [place of occurrence]. They then went to Vatara Police Station but the duty officer refused to allow them to file the GD if they claimed that RAB had taken my brother. They said that they could only give a GD if they said that Sumon was missing. As we did not want to do that, we did not file a GD.”⁵

Through family connections, Sumon’s family contacted a senior RAB officer [name withheld]:

“He began to speak to my mother on the phone, and to send messages. He made her believe that Sumon was going to be released soon. He said for example one day, “He will be with you next time you say your prayers.” Many times, he said that they were going to release Sumon. But nothing happened. This went on for two months.”⁶

Family members continued go to the RAB-1 office and RAB headquarters. At the end of January, Sumon’s mother and sister were invited to the office to meet an RAB-1 officer. Sanjida said:

“He admitted that Sumon had been detained. They praised my brother, saying that Sumon is good person, had a good reputation. He said that his boss had gone to see Sumon recently, to make sure he was all right in their custody. He suggested to us that we should communicate with Ziaul Ahsan, who was in charge of operations. He gave Ahsan’s landline and mobile number to my mother. When we met Ahsan, he was very arrogant. He said, “Why are so many army officials calling about Sumon? We have told you that we don’t have him and that we are searching for him.””⁷

The family gave its first written complaint to RAB on March 18, 2014, and has since given at least 12 further complaints to RAB (most recently on August 21, 2016), and five to other government authorities, including the home ministry, police, and military intelligence. The family has also made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission and filed a habeas corpus petition in court.

In May 2016, Sanjida met again with one of the RAB officials the family had met earlier, who had been a senior RAB-1 officer at the time of her brother’s disappearance, but had since left. He confirmed in a private meeting at a restaurant that RAB-1 had conducted the operation to pick up Sumon. He said that the six men had been in his custody and that he received an order to kill them, but he refused.⁸

According to Sanjida, the official said that RAB’s counterterrorism branch—under the command of Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, who subsequently became head of RAB’s intelligence wing—took the men from his custody. The official assumed they had been killed.⁹ In August 2016, Sanjida met with Azad, but he denied any involvement and, according to Sanjida, said: “We are searching. I will try to let you know whether he is alive or anywhere else.”

Russel’s sister, Nusrat Jahan Laboni, said she waited all night for her brother to come home, and in the morning discovered that his friends were missing as well.¹⁰ Family members approached RAB, DB, and various police stations several times but no one had any information about the detentions.¹¹

Amin’s father filed a missing person GD at Badda Police Station that covered the area where they lived.¹² The family also managed to file a First Information Report on January 26, 2014.¹³ Amin’s cousin, Yakoob, went to the construction site and the workers recognized his photograph, confirming that Amin was detained by RAB-1:

“I asked the workers how they knew that it was specifically RAB-1. They said that the security guards who work in that area are a little educated. After Al Amin Bhai and his friends were taken away by RAB, the workers went running toward the security guards, and the security guards told them that the vehicles had “RAB-1″ written on them.”¹⁴

Yakoob also went to the RAB office, where officials asked questions about witnesses to the abductions:

“The RAB officer asked me if I had any record or proof with me about the complaint. I replied to them that I had a recording of the statement that the workers and the caretaker gave. I showed the officer the recording. He took a record of the recording. Then I left the office and came back home. Afterward, I again contacted the officer to ask them if he has found anything about them yet. The officer replied that he will call us when it will be time. I called him three more times, but he couldn’t tell me anything else.”¹⁵

Masum’s mother, Ayesha Ali, said the family went to a number of police stations: “They said that no one had been arrested. On December 6, we went to file a GD in Tejgaon industrial area, but they only accepted a GD if we said that he was missing.”¹⁶

Rana’s sister, Meenara Begum, said that she too went to the police and RAB offices after she heard of the detention. They also filed a police complaint reporting that Rana was missing.¹⁷

Tanvir and Sumon are cousins. Tanvir’s mother, Nilifur Rana, also said that she went with her relatives to meet with RAB and DB officers, but everyone denied the detention.¹⁸

A year after the detentions, in December 2014, Sumon’s family made a formal complaint to the National Human Rights Commission. On December 17, the then chair of the NHRC wrote to the most senior civil servant of the home ministry setting out the allegation and “appealing to the government to take necessary action to bring back the son of Hazera Khatun and the others to the parents,” and to inform NHRC what action the ministry had taken by January 15, 2015.¹⁹

The ministry did not respond to this letter or to six other monthly reminders that the NHRC sent. However, on August 28, 2015, the ministry finally replied, stating that Sumon’s father had filed a case with the Vatara Police Station on January 26, 2014, and that the case was under investigation.²⁰ In a letter dated November 15, 2015, Sumon’s mother wrote that they had never filed a case of this kind because when they had gone to do so “the police refused to take the case.”²¹

The NHRC then wrote to the ministry stating that the police report did not contain any specific step as to “how you are trying to get the victims back,” and asked for a detailed report by December 20, 2015. On January 14, 2016, police sent a letter to Sumon’s mother asking her to come to the police station. This meeting never took place. Instead, Sumon’s family sent a note to the police setting out the details of Sumon’s disappearance.

In March 2016, Sumon’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court.²² She said that her son was illegally detained by RAB. The petition said that authorities had shown no inclination to investigate the incident, and that the court should order government authorities to produce him before the court.

On March 10, 2016, the court passed a rule nisi calling upon the Bangladesh government and various policing bodies to “show cause as to why the arrest/abduction/causing disappearance of the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon … should not be declared to be illegal and without lawful jurisdiction,” and pass such orders as the court considers necessary.²³

Following this order, the inspector general of police responded in an affidavit, “It was learnt from the respective units that neither Rapid Action Battalion nor any other unit of Bangladesh Police arrested said Sajedul Islam Sumon.”²⁴ RAB also filed an affidavit with the court stating, “RAB-1 did not pick up or arrest the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon and others,” and that “we are trying to find out the victims.”²⁵

There had been no further court hearing at time of writing, since the High Court passed its order.

Amin’s family was the only one to file a FIR involving the abduction.²⁶ His nephew, Yakoob Ali, said that some six months after the case was filed, an officer from the Vatara Police Station called and asked if the family had received news about Amin. “I said that it was the police that were supposed to be the ones providing the information.”²⁷

In response to the court order following the habeas corpus petition by Sumon’s family, the police filed documents relating to its investigation into Amin’s family’s FIR with the court. These stated that after Amin’s father filed a case in January 2014, a police inspector had prepared a draft map; taken statements from the petitioner, people in the surrounding area, and a witness, and had collected the victim’s mobile phone records. Police said that three investigating officers had been assigned to, and then taken off, the case. The police reports concluded by saying the investigation revealed that along with Amin, Sumon had also been abducted by “an organized criminal gang” that they were trying to identify and catch. It stated: “The case is under investigation and we are deploying modern technologies.”²⁸

Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities also said that on November 19, 2014, the investigation responsibility was transferred to the DB of the police.²⁹ In April 2016, following the March court order seeking state response to the habeas corpus petition, DB officials contacted Amin’s family and asked to get more information about the incident. Amin’s cousin said that the whole exercise was cruel and farcical: “I felt it was like a joke—him coming after three years and asking about [my cousin] like this. He said, ‘Don’t worry, you will get justice.’”

Sumon’s sister, Afroja Islam Aqi, said that she, her sisters, and her mother went to the RAB office every week for five years after her brother was disappeared. But every time RAB denied everything. “We were begging and begging but they gave nothing.”³⁰ Sumon’s mother, Hajera, says his daughters ask for him often, which she says brings her great pain. “If Sumon did any offence, then he should be brought to justice under the existing legal system,” She said.³¹

“I am broken,” Masum’s mother said. “There is nobody here to call me mother. The only thing I want is for my son to return, that is the only expectation. We won’t even talk about it. We’ll forget what happened, just bring him back. Everything is lost from my end.”³²

Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir are still missing.³³

Ilias Ali Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary, Member of Parliament; One of BNP’s Most Prominent Representatives.

Ilias Ali’s son, Abrar Ilias, said that a man selling coconuts, a tea stall owner, and the guard at a construction site told them that on the night of April 17, 2012, they saw a microbus hit Ali’s car and then pull Ali and Ansar into the microbus and drive away.¹

After the two men went missing, Ali’s car was found, abandoned with all the doors open, near his home in the Banani neighborhood of Dhaka.² There were at least 13 cases brought against Ali since the ruling Awami League came into power in 2009. According to a 2019 report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), before his disappearance, a member of the Special Security Force (SSF), claimed that Ilias Ali was “on the list of names against whom the government was making plans.”³ After he went missing, a member of the SSF again ominously confirmed that “the government has some plan regarding Ilias Ali.”⁴ Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters, including opposition leader Khaleda Zia, have expressed their belief that Ali and Ansar were forcibly disappeared by security forces and engaged in nationwide strikes over the case.⁵

Ali’s wife, Tahsina Rushdir, lodged a general diary (GD) with the Banani Police Station on April 18, 2012. According to Ali’s relatives, the police refused to file a case beyond the GD, however, due to “orders from above.”⁶ Later, Ali’s family filed a writ petition with the High Court and the High Court issued a rule calling on respondents to show cause as to why Ali had not been brought to court and that they must reply within 10 days. The High Court ordered police to submit weekly reports updating the court on the status of the case. Although the police initially complied with the order, the reports did not provide any substantial information and they stopped reporting after six months.⁷ In April 2018, Ali’s wife, Tahsina, told the media that law enforcement had only contacted her for the first four or five months after her husband had disappeared, but “after that, no one from law enforcement agencies communicated with us or informed us about the progress.”⁸

Forman Ali, an officer in charge of Banani Police Station where the GD was lodged in May 2012, told the media in 2018: “We are investigating [the incident] to find out Ilias based on the general diary filed in this connection. But there is no specific progress as of now.”⁹

Since Ali’s disappearance, his family has faced harassment from law enforcement who come to their home.¹⁰

Ali’s wife told the media: “The government or the law enforcement agencies might have thought that we have forgotten him as years have passed. But the memory of Ilias Ali haunts me and my children every night.”¹¹

Ilias Ali and Mohammad Ansar are still missing.

Sala Uddin’s father, Gazu Mia, said that on May 18, 2011, Uddin had gone shopping at a market in Savar. But while he was there, Mia says that Uddin called his brother-in-law, Wajed Ullah, saying that he had just been arrested by men identifying themselves as Detective Branch (DB) of Police. That same evening, at around 10 p.m., Mia says that 12-14 armed men came to their home, identified themselves as being from the Detective Branch of Police, and detained Ullah.¹

However, the police denied having Uddin or Ullah in their custody. On May 22, 2011, Uddin’s brother, Yunus Mia, filed a general diary (GD) with the Savar Model Police Station.²

There has been no update on the case since the family filed the GD.³

Sala Uddin and Wajed Ullah are still missing.

Tapan Chandra Das’ business partner, Gobinda Das, said that he and Tapan were returning home on a rickshaw after a business meeting when Tapan was detained at around 7:30 p.m. on August 3, 2011.¹Gobinda said that they were passing the construction site of Aesthetic Property Development Limited, adjacent to the KB Road, Faridabad, near Gandaria Police Station in Dhaka, when suddenly a group of men claiming to be from the Detective Branch (DB) of Police forced their rickshaw to stop and asked both of them to confirm their identities. When Tapan gave his identity, they asked Gobinda to confirm that it was indeed Tapan. The men then pulled Tapan down from the rickshaw, took his cellphone, and forced him into a white microbus that was parked on the side of the road. The men then came back to the rickshaw and forced Gobinda into the microbus as well. Later, an eyewitness would tell Tapan’s father and brother in-law that she had seen seven or eight men pick up Tapan and Gobinda and force them into a white van.²

Gobinda said both of them were blindfolded and handcuffed. He heard the men ask Tapan how many mobile phones he had and Tapan replied that he only had one. But then, just at that moment, Tapan’s second mobile phone rang. Gobinda could hear the men beating Tapan and Tapan crying out in pain.³

Then Gobinda heard the men ask Tapan about Gobinda’s name and occupation. Tapan explained that Gobinda’s job was to deliver papers, photocopy documents relating to his land trading business, and generally assist him during his meeting with lawyers and that they had been together working for about seven or eight days.⁴The vehicle eventually stopped near the police Detective Branch on Mintu Road in Dhaka, about 15km away from where they had been picked up. The men ordered Gobinda to get out of the microbus and to walk straight ahead without looking back. When Gobinda returned home he immediately called Tapan’s family to tell them that Detective Branch police had picked him up.⁵

Tapan’s wife, Shumi Das, said that when Gobinda gave her the news she and her brother went to the Detective Branch offices, local Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) offices, and nearby hospitals, searching for Tapan but found no information. She and her brother went to Sutrapur Police Station to file a case, but they sent her to Gandaria Police Station, who then sent her to Shyampur Police Station. Finally, after hours of going between police stations, they were able to file a general diary (GD). However, when they requested that it be noted in the case that Tapan had been picked up by men identifying themselves as members of the Detective Branch, the police refused and filed it as a missing person case.

Shumi says that she is still hopeful, that she still wears the red bindi and sindoor, indicating that she is married, but that she is worried that it would not have been possible for him to be fed and kept alive for these 10 years. She says that sometimes she thinks she hears him calling her name.⁶ There has been no progress on the case in ten years.

Tapan Chandra Das is still missing.⁷

Sala Uddin’s father, Gazu Mia, said that on May 18, 2011, Uddin had gone shopping at a market in Savar. But while he was there, Mia says that Uddin called his brother-in-law, Wajed Ullah, saying that he had just been arrested by men identifying themselves as Detective Branch (DB) of Police. That same evening, at around 10 p.m., Mia says that 12-14 armed men came to their home, identified themselves as being from the Detective Branch of Police, and detained Ullah.¹

However, the police denied having Uddin or Ullah in their custody. On May 22, 2011, Uddin’s brother, Yunus Mia, filed a general diary (GD) with the Savar Model Police Station.²

There has been no update on the case since the family filed the GD.³

Sala Uddin and Wajed Ullah are still missing.

At about 8 p.m. on December 4, 2013, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir were picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers outside a building under construction in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon was the only post-holder for the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), and according to family members, the only one with a criminal case filed against him; the others were all supporters and activists. There were two other men present at the time, but they managed to escape.

One of the two men who escaped said that the meeting had been called by Sumon. RAB officers arrived soon after:

“For 40 or 45 minutes we were chatting. We were talking about the momentum of protest. After that, four of the men left by foot, leaving four of us—Tanvir, Sumon, myself, and [name withheld] behind. Two of us then went to the other side of a cement mixing machine to have a smoke. Suddenly we saw vehicles approaching. There was more than one car, but I can’t say exactly how many. There were some men in black uniforms who came out of the vehicles. They had weapons. The cars had their lights on so I could see the men, the color of their uniform. There was one car with “RAB-1″ written on it. I am sure that it was definitely RAB because of the clothes, and because I saw RAB-1 logo on the car. I could make out that people were being taken into a vehicle and that it left.”¹

A construction worker at the site who witnessed the detention said he knew Tanvir because the family owned the property and had seen Sumon earlier. He said:

“Tanvir and Sumon were still standing there talking when the vehicles came. Four of the men [who came down from the vehicle] wore civil dress and another seven or eight were dressed in the black clothing of RAB, with a cloth around the head. All the men had guns. Sumon and Tanvir were both beaten up before they were put in the car. “Why you are arresting us, we are not these type of people,” they said at the time of being picked up.”²

Six hours later, early the following morning, a contractor said he was returning from a night shift to Shaheen Bagh, the area where Sumon’s family lives, when he saw Sumon, whom he knew well, inside a car that he thought belonged to law enforcement authorities.³

Sumon was not at that time staying at his home in Shaheen Bagh because he feared arrest, and was instead living with his cousin, Tanvir, at their apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon’s sister, Sanjida Islam, said that they first heard that Sumon had been picked up when her family in Shaheen Bagh received a call from her aunt, Tanvir’s mother:

“My aunt said that it was RAB. Within half an hour my older sister, my husband, and my mother went to the RAB office in Uttara. I was pregnant at the time so I did not go. RAB people at the gate did not allow my family members in. The men at the reception denied they were involved in the detention. My sister, father, and mother stayed outside the RAB office throughout that night, and for the next three days one family member or the other was present outside the RAB office.”⁴

At about 11 p.m., one of the two men who had escaped being picked up came to their house though the back entrance. He told the family that Sumon had been taken away in RAB vehicles. The following day, Sanjida said that family members went to file a complaint with police:

“The next day my mother and older sister went to our local police station in Tejgaon to file a GD but the police said that they had to go to the police station of the PO [place of occurrence]. They then went to Vatara Police Station but the duty officer refused to allow them to file the GD if they claimed that RAB had taken my brother. They said that they could only give a GD if they said that Sumon was missing. As we did not want to do that, we did not file a GD.”⁵

Through family connections, Sumon’s family contacted a senior RAB officer [name withheld]:

“He began to speak to my mother on the phone, and to send messages. He made her believe that Sumon was going to be released soon. He said for example one day, “He will be with you next time you say your prayers.” Many times, he said that they were going to release Sumon. But nothing happened. This went on for two months.”⁶

Family members continued go to the RAB-1 office and RAB headquarters. At the end of January, Sumon’s mother and sister were invited to the office to meet an RAB-1 officer. Sanjida said:

“He admitted that Sumon had been detained. They praised my brother, saying that Sumon is good person, had a good reputation. He said that his boss had gone to see Sumon recently, to make sure he was all right in their custody. He suggested to us that we should communicate with Ziaul Ahsan, who was in charge of operations. He gave Ahsan’s landline and mobile number to my mother. When we met Ahsan, he was very arrogant. He said, “Why are so many army officials calling about Sumon? We have told you that we don’t have him and that we are searching for him.””⁷

The family gave its first written complaint to RAB on March 18, 2014, and has since given at least 12 further complaints to RAB (most recently on August 21, 2016), and five to other government authorities, including the home ministry, police, and military intelligence. The family has also made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission and filed a habeas corpus petition in court.

In May 2016, Sanjida met again with one of the RAB officials the family had met earlier, who had been a senior RAB-1 officer at the time of her brother’s disappearance, but had since left. He confirmed in a private meeting at a restaurant that RAB-1 had conducted the operation to pick up Sumon. He said that the six men had been in his custody and that he received an order to kill them, but he refused.⁸

According to Sanjida, the official said that RAB’s counterterrorism branch—under the command of Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, who subsequently became head of RAB’s intelligence wing—took the men from his custody. The official assumed they had been killed.⁹ In August 2016, Sanjida met with Azad, but he denied any involvement and, according to Sanjida, said: “We are searching. I will try to let you know whether he is alive or anywhere else.”

Russel’s sister, Nusrat Jahan Laboni, said she waited all night for her brother to come home, and in the morning discovered that his friends were missing as well.¹⁰ Family members approached RAB, DB, and various police stations several times but no one had any information about the detentions.¹¹

Amin’s father filed a missing person GD at Badda Police Station that covered the area where they lived.¹² The family also managed to file a First Information Report on January 26, 2014.¹³ Amin’s cousin, Yakoob, went to the construction site and the workers recognized his photograph, confirming that Amin was detained by RAB-1:

“I asked the workers how they knew that it was specifically RAB-1. They said that the security guards who work in that area are a little educated. After Al Amin Bhai and his friends were taken away by RAB, the workers went running toward the security guards, and the security guards told them that the vehicles had “RAB-1″ written on them.”¹⁴

Yakoob also went to the RAB office, where officials asked questions about witnesses to the abductions:

“The RAB officer asked me if I had any record or proof with me about the complaint. I replied to them that I had a recording of the statement that the workers and the caretaker gave. I showed the officer the recording. He took a record of the recording. Then I left the office and came back home. Afterward, I again contacted the officer to ask them if he has found anything about them yet. The officer replied that he will call us when it will be time. I called him three more times, but he couldn’t tell me anything else.”¹⁵

Masum’s mother, Ayesha Ali, said the family went to a number of police stations: “They said that no one had been arrested. On December 6, we went to file a GD in Tejgaon industrial area, but they only accepted a GD if we said that he was missing.”¹⁶

Rana’s sister, Meenara Begum, said that she too went to the police and RAB offices after she heard of the detention. They also filed a police complaint reporting that Rana was missing.¹⁷

Tanvir and Sumon are cousins. Tanvir’s mother, Nilifur Rana, also said that she went with her relatives to meet with RAB and DB officers, but everyone denied the detention.¹⁸

A year after the detentions, in December 2014, Sumon’s family made a formal complaint to the National Human Rights Commission. On December 17, the then chair of the NHRC wrote to the most senior civil servant of the home ministry setting out the allegation and “appealing to the government to take necessary action to bring back the son of Hazera Khatun and the others to the parents,” and to inform NHRC what action the ministry had taken by January 15, 2015.¹⁹

The ministry did not respond to this letter or to six other monthly reminders that the NHRC sent. However, on August 28, 2015, the ministry finally replied, stating that Sumon’s father had filed a case with the Vatara Police Station on January 26, 2014, and that the case was under investigation.²⁰ In a letter dated November 15, 2015, Sumon’s mother wrote that they had never filed a case of this kind because when they had gone to do so “the police refused to take the case.”²¹

The NHRC then wrote to the ministry stating that the police report did not contain any specific step as to “how you are trying to get the victims back,” and asked for a detailed report by December 20, 2015. On January 14, 2016, police sent a letter to Sumon’s mother asking her to come to the police station. This meeting never took place. Instead, Sumon’s family sent a note to the police setting out the details of Sumon’s disappearance.

In March 2016, Sumon’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court.²² She said that her son was illegally detained by RAB. The petition said that authorities had shown no inclination to investigate the incident, and that the court should order government authorities to produce him before the court.

On March 10, 2016, the court passed a rule nisi calling upon the Bangladesh government and various policing bodies to “show cause as to why the arrest/abduction/causing disappearance of the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon … should not be declared to be illegal and without lawful jurisdiction,” and pass such orders as the court considers necessary.²³

Following this order, the inspector general of police responded in an affidavit, “It was learnt from the respective units that neither Rapid Action Battalion nor any other unit of Bangladesh Police arrested said Sajedul Islam Sumon.”²⁴ RAB also filed an affidavit with the court stating, “RAB-1 did not pick up or arrest the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon and others,” and that “we are trying to find out the victims.”²⁵

There had been no further court hearing at time of writing, since the High Court passed its order.

Amin’s family was the only one to file a FIR involving the abduction.²⁶ His nephew, Yakoob Ali, said that some six months after the case was filed, an officer from the Vatara Police Station called and asked if the family had received news about Amin. “I said that it was the police that were supposed to be the ones providing the information.”²⁷

In response to the court order following the habeas corpus petition by Sumon’s family, the police filed documents relating to its investigation into Amin’s family’s FIR with the court. These stated that after Amin’s father filed a case in January 2014, a police inspector had prepared a draft map; taken statements from the petitioner, people in the surrounding area, and a witness, and had collected the victim’s mobile phone records. Police said that three investigating officers had been assigned to, and then taken off, the case. The police reports concluded by saying the investigation revealed that along with Amin, Sumon had also been abducted by “an organized criminal gang” that they were trying to identify and catch. It stated: “The case is under investigation and we are deploying modern technologies.”²⁸

Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities also said that on November 19, 2014, the investigation responsibility was transferred to the DB of the police.²⁹ In April 2016, following the March court order seeking state response to the habeas corpus petition, DB officials contacted Amin’s family and asked to get more information about the incident. Amin’s cousin said that the whole exercise was cruel and farcical: “I felt it was like a joke—him coming after three years and asking about [my cousin] like this. He said, ‘Don’t worry, you will get justice.’”

Sumon’s sister, Afroja Islam Aqi, said that she, her sisters, and her mother went to the RAB office every week for five years after her brother was disappeared. But every time RAB denied everything. “We were begging and begging but they gave nothing.”³⁰ Sumon’s mother, Hajera, says his daughters ask for him often, which she says brings her great pain. “If Sumon did any offence, then he should be brought to justice under the existing legal system,” She said.³¹

“I am broken,” Masum’s mother said. “There is nobody here to call me mother. The only thing I want is for my son to return, that is the only expectation. We won’t even talk about it. We’ll forget what happened, just bring him back. Everything is lost from my end.”³²

Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir are still missing.³³

According to Nazrul Islam’s older brother, Zahidul Haque, Islam was traveling from Dhaka to Chittagong by bus on November 5, 2010 and was abducted when the vehicle was waiting for traffic to clear. Haque said that the driver of the microbus told him he had stopped on Chowrasta-Joydebpur road, waiting for a traffic jam to clear on his way from Farmgate to Gazipur when a group of four or five armed men forced Islam to disembark, and pushed him onto another microbus. Eyewitnesses on the bus told Haque that the men claimed to be from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Mohammad Jamal Ahmed and his friend Mohammad Mizan went to the Dhaka Electric Supply Company on May 4, 2011 to secure a new electricity connection for Jamal’s home. Once they arrived, Ahmed called his brother-in-law, Kabir Hossain, to join them at the office. When Hossain arrived, he called Mizan from outside. However, when Mizan and Ahmed went out the front gate of the electric supply company, Mizan says there were men who they believed were Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers waiting at the gate with a microbus. He said that six or seven of the armed men surrounded Ahmed and ordered Mizan to run away, threatening to shoot him. Mizan said he ran back inside the electricity supply office and went up to the second floor where he could see Ahmed being shoved into the microbus. ¹

Upon hearing of the abduction, Ahmed’s wife, Kohinur Begum, immediately went to the Dhaka Electric Supply Company office where a security guard on duty at the time confirmed that some men in white shirts and black pants had picked up her husband in a microbus; he gave her the license plate number.² She said that other eyewitnesses who were there at the time told her that when they had asked about what the men were doing with Ahmed, they replied that they had to ask him some questions and then he would be released.³

On May 6, 2011, Begum went to the Tongi Model Police Station to file a case but the officer in charge only filed a general diary (GD). Begum said she also went to the offices of RAB-1, 2, and 3, but all officers denied any knowledge of the case.

Mohammad Jamal Ahmed is still missing.⁴

On December 23, 2010, Abul Haider went to Dhaka from Barisal with his assistant Kabir Hossain. When they arrived at Jakaria Hotel in Mohakhali, he sent Hossain upstairs to check the hotel room. By the time Hossain returned, Haider had disappeared.¹ When Hossain returned to the hotel lobby and asked where Haider was, the hotel staff said that he had been picked up by a group of men who identified themselves as Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers.

When Hossain told Haider’s wife, Rumana Haider, what had happened, Haider’s family went to different law enforcement agencies, including RAB, pleading for information.² However, Rumana Haider said that every law enforcement agency denied any knowledge of Haider’s disappearance. Rumana Haider said that she could not afford to file a criminal case.³

Abul Haider is still missing.

K.M. Shamim Akhtar’s wife, Jharna Kano, said that on the morning of September 29, 2011, she went to work, leaving her husband, mother-in-law, and three-year-old son at home. She says her mother-in-law told her that at around 8:30 a.m. Akhtar left the house to pick up a few groceries. She said he was wearing only a lungi (sarong) and fatua (a style of collared shirt) and left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t have been planning to go far.¹

Around that same time, a vegetable shop owner said that he was in his shop at Purana Paltan Line when he saw about seven men in plainclothes forcing a man down the street toward Bottola Mosque on Bijoy Nagar road. He said he didn’t recognize the man who was wearing a lungi and fatua, but that he noticed the men pushing him had similar short haircuts. Later, when he asked other locals who the man was, they told him it was Akhtar.

A tea stall owner in Bijoy Nagar said that on September 29, 2011, at around 7:30 in the morning, a silver microbus stopped in front of his tea stall and about seven men got out and had tea from his shop, then walked away. At about 8:15 a.m., he said the men returned with a man wearing lungi and fatua from the direction of the Purana Paltan Line area and he said they pushed the man into the microbus forcibly. He said he heard the man yell, “Please save me, they are going to kill me.” But the microbus sped away. He recalled that the men all had similar short haircuts and he believes they were from law enforcement.²

Shortly after, the vegetable shop owner went to Kano and told her what he saw.³ Kano went straight to the Polton Model Police Station and filed a general diary (GD).⁴ Kano believes her husband was taken away due to his political affiliation.⁶

K.M. Shamim Akhtar is still missing.⁷

According to Sarwar Jahan Babul’s younger brother, Iqbal Bahar, the two of them had traveled to Dhaka on October 26, 2011 for a bail hearing before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court.¹ When they arrived at Hotel Ashor in Fakirapool, where they planned to stay, all of a sudden, a microbus pulled up beside them. Bahar said a few men got out of the microbus, identified themselves as police, grabbed his brother, and pulled him into the microbus. Bahar said he couldn’t see inside because the windows of the microbus were black.²

Bahar immediately called his family, and his older brother, Abdur Rahim Manik, came to Dhaka where they lodged a general diary (GD) with the Motijheel Police Station the next day. On October 29, 2011, Manik filed a criminal case with the Motijheel Police Station.³ Bahar said the case was first investigated by the Motijheel Police and then transferred to the Detective Branch (DB) of Police, and that now the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) is investigating the case.

However, when they contacted the CID in July 2020, they were told that, almost nine years later, there had still be no progress on the case.

Sarwar Jahan Babul is still missing.⁴

Tariqul Islam Tara’s wife, Baby Akter, said that on the night of August 13, 2012, Tara heard that some law enforcement officers were in the area. Fearing arrest due to his involvement with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Tara went to stay at his friend’s home. But Akter says that at around 1:30 a.m. on August 14, 2012, the friend’s wife called to tell her that a group of armed men had come to their door and that when she asked who they were, she said they told her they were from the Pallabi Police Station. When she opened the door, she said they went to Tara and forced him outside and into a white microbus at gunpoint.¹

A 2019 report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) quoted an eyewitness who said that when he tried to ask the men questions, they “told him to leave the house and not to look back” even as Tariqul was calling out for help saying that he was going to be killed.²

Akter went to the Pallabi Police Station, but the police denied arresting Tara. Akter filed a general diary (GD) with the police station that night.³ On August 18, 2012, Tara’s family filed a case with the Pallabi Police Station stating that unidentified people claiming to be members of law enforcement had abducted Tara.⁴ Tara’s family also wrote to the office of the prime minister, RAB headquarters, RAB-4 office, and the Dhaka metropolitan police, pleading for the authorities to return Tara.⁵

The family said that after they had filed the complaint about Tara’s illegal detention, men in plainclothes, who they believe were police, came to their house at night and tried to take another relative away as well. One day, men in plainclothes tried to break down the gate of their home, but when neighbors came out to stop them, the men left. The family lodged another GD with the Pallabi police after this incident. Soon after, the Pallabi police filed a Final Report in the case of Tara’s abduction, closing the case. Tara’s father, Nurul Islam, said that he gave up pursuing the case in court because he didn’t believe he could find justice under the current government.⁶

Tariqul Islam Tara is still missing.⁷

At about 8 p.m. on December 4, 2013, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir were picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers outside a building under construction in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon was the only post-holder for the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), and according to family members, the only one with a criminal case filed against him; the others were all supporters and activists. There were two other men present at the time, but they managed to escape.

One of the two men who escaped said that the meeting had been called by Sumon. RAB officers arrived soon after:

“For 40 or 45 minutes we were chatting. We were talking about the momentum of protest. After that, four of the men left by foot, leaving four of us—Tanvir, Sumon, myself, and [name withheld] behind. Two of us then went to the other side of a cement mixing machine to have a smoke. Suddenly we saw vehicles approaching. There was more than one car, but I can’t say exactly how many. There were some men in black uniforms who came out of the vehicles. They had weapons. The cars had their lights on so I could see the men, the color of their uniform. There was one car with “RAB-1” written on it. I am sure that it was definitely RAB because of the clothes, and because I saw RAB-1 logo on the car. I could make out that people were being taken into a vehicle and that it left.”1

A construction worker at the site who witnessed the detention said he knew Tanvir because the family owned the property and had seen Sumon earlier. He said:

“Tanvir and Sumon were still standing there talking when the vehicles came. Four of the men [who came down from the vehicle] wore civil dress and another seven or eight were dressed in the black clothing of RAB, with a cloth around the head. All the men had guns. Sumon and Tanvir were both beaten up before they were put in the car. “Why you are arresting us, we are not these type of people,” they said at the time of being picked up.”2

Six hours later, early the following morning, a contractor said he was returning from a night shift to Shaheen Bagh, the area where Sumon’s family lives, when he saw Sumon, whom he knew well, inside a car that he thought belonged to law enforcement authorities.3

Sumon was not at that time staying at his home in Shaheen Bagh because he feared arrest, and was instead living with his cousin, Tanvir, at their apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon’s sister, Sanjida Islam, said that they first heard that Sumon had been picked up when her family in Shaheen Bagh received a call from her aunt, Tanvir’s mother:

“My aunt said that it was RAB. Within half an hour my older sister, my husband, and my mother went to the RAB office in Uttara. I was pregnant at the time so I did not go. RAB people at the gate did not allow my family members in. The men at the reception denied they were involved in the detention. My sister, father, and mother stayed outside the RAB office throughout that night, and for the next three days one family member or the other was present outside the RAB office.”4

At about 11 p.m., one of the two men who had escaped being picked up came to their house though the back entrance. He told the family that Sumon had been taken away in RAB vehicles. The following day, Sanjida said that family members went to file a complaint with police:

“The next day my mother and older sister went to our local police station in Tejgaon to file a GD but the police said that they had to go to the police station of the PO [place of occurrence]. They then went to Vatara Police Station but the duty officer refused to allow them to file the GD if they claimed that RAB had taken my brother. They said that they could only give a GD if they said that Sumon was missing. As we did not want to do that, we did not file a GD.”5

Through family connections, Sumon’s family contacted a senior RAB officer [name withheld]:

“He began to speak to my mother on the phone, and to send messages. He made her believe that Sumon was going to be released soon. He said for example one day, “He will be with you next time you say your prayers.” Many times, he said that they were going to release Sumon. But nothing happened. This went on for two months.”6

Family members continued go to the RAB-1 office and RAB headquarters. At the end of January, Sumon’s mother and sister were invited to the office to meet an RAB-1 officer. Sanjida said:

“He admitted that Sumon had been detained. They praised my brother, saying that Sumon is good person, had a good reputation. He said that his boss had gone to see Sumon recently, to make sure he was all right in their custody. He suggested to us that we should communicate with Ziaul Ahsan, who was in charge of operations. He gave Ahsan’s landline and mobile number to my mother. When we met Ahsan, he was very arrogant. He said, “Why are so many army officials calling about Sumon? We have told you that we don’t have him and that we are searching for him.””7

The family gave its first written complaint to RAB on March 18, 2014, and has since given at least 12 further complaints to RAB (most recently on August 21, 2016), and five to other government authorities, including the home ministry, police, and military intelligence. The family has also made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission and filed a habeas corpus petition in court.

In May 2016, Sanjida met again with one of the RAB officials the family had met earlier, who had been a senior RAB-1 officer at the time of her brother’s disappearance, but had since left. He confirmed in a private meeting at a restaurant that RAB-1 had conducted the operation to pick up Sumon. He said that the six men had been in his custody and that he received an order to kill them, but he refused.8

According to Sanjida, the official said that RAB’s counterterrorism branch—under the command of Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, who subsequently became head of RAB’s intelligence wing—took the men from his custody. The official assumed they had been killed.9 In August 2016, Sanjida met with Azad, but he denied any involvement and, according to Sanjida, said: “We are searching. I will try to let you know whether he is alive or anywhere else.”

Russel’s sister, Nusrat Jahan Laboni, said she waited all night for her brother to come home, and in the morning discovered that his friends were missing as well.10 Family members approached RAB, DB, and various police stations several times but no one had any information about the detentions.11

Amin’s father filed a missing person GD at Badda Police Station that covered the area where they lived.12 The family also managed to file a First Information Report on January 26, 2014.13 Amin’s cousin, Yakoob, went to the construction site and the workers recognized his photograph, confirming that Amin was detained by RAB-1:

“I asked the workers how they knew that it was specifically RAB-1. They said that the security guards who work in that area are a little educated. After Al Amin Bhai and his friends were taken away by RAB, the workers went running toward the security guards, and the security guards told them that the vehicles had “RAB-1” written on them.”14

Yakoob also went to the RAB office, where officials asked questions about witnesses to the abductions:

“The RAB officer asked me if I had any record or proof with me about the complaint. I replied to them that I had a recording of the statement that the workers and the caretaker gave. I showed the officer the recording. He took a record of the recording. Then I left the office and came back home. Afterward, I again contacted the officer to ask them if he has found anything about them yet. The officer replied that he will call us when it will be time. I called him three more times, but he couldn’t tell me anything else.”15

Masum’s mother, Ayesha Ali, said the family went to a number of police stations: “They said that no one had been arrested. On December 6, we went to file a GD in Tejgaon industrial area, but they only accepted a GD if we said that he was missing.”16

Rana’s sister, Meenara Begum, said that she too went to the police and RAB offices after she heard of the detention. They also filed a police complaint reporting that Rana was missing.17

Tanvir and Sumon are cousins. Tanvir’s mother, Nilifur Rana, also said that she went with her relatives to meet with RAB and DB officers, but everyone denied the detention.18

A year after the detentions, in December 2014, Sumon’s family made a formal complaint to the National Human Rights Commission. On December 17, the then chair of the NHRC wrote to the most senior civil servant of the home ministry setting out the allegation and “appealing to the government to take necessary action to bring back the son of Hazera Khatun and the others to the parents,” and to inform NHRC what action the ministry had taken by January 15, 2015.19

The ministry did not respond to this letter or to six other monthly reminders that the NHRC sent. However, on August 28, 2015, the ministry finally replied, stating that Sumon’s father had filed a case with the Vatara Police Station on January 26, 2014, and that the case was under investigation.20 In a letter dated November 15, 2015, Sumon’s mother wrote that they had never filed a case of this kind because when they had gone to do so “the police refused to take the case.”21

The NHRC then wrote to the ministry stating that the police report did not contain any specific step as to “how you are trying to get the victims back,” and asked for a detailed report by December 20, 2015. On January 14, 2016, police sent a letter to Sumon’s mother asking her to come to the police station. This meeting never took place. Instead, Sumon’s family sent a note to the police setting out the details of Sumon’s disappearance.

In March 2016, Sumon’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court.22 She said that her son was illegally detained by RAB. The petition said that authorities had shown no inclination to investigate the incident, and that the court should order government authorities to produce him before the court.

On March 10, 2016, the court passed a rule nisi calling upon the Bangladesh government and various policing bodies to “show cause as to why the arrest/abduction/causing disappearance of the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon … should not be declared to be illegal and without lawful jurisdiction,” and pass such orders as the court considers necessary.23

Following this order, the inspector general of police responded in an affidavit, “It was learnt from the respective units that neither Rapid Action Battalion nor any other unit of Bangladesh Police arrested said Sajedul Islam Sumon.”24 RAB also filed an affidavit with the court stating, “RAB-1 did not pick up or arrest the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon and others,” and that “we are trying to find out the victims.”25

There had been no further court hearing at time of writing, since the High Court passed its order.

Amin’s family was the only one to file a FIR involving the abduction.26 His nephew, Yakoob Ali, said that some six months after the case was filed, an officer from the Vatara Police Station called and asked if the family had received news about Amin. “I said that it was the police that were supposed to be the ones providing the information.”27

In response to the court order following the habeas corpus petition by Sumon’s family, the police filed documents relating to its investigation into Amin’s family’s FIR with the court. These stated that after Amin’s father filed a case in January 2014, a police inspector had prepared a draft map; taken statements from the petitioner, people in the surrounding area, and a witness, and had collected the victim’s mobile phone records. Police said that three investigating officers had been assigned to, and then taken off, the case. The police reports concluded by saying the investigation revealed that along with Amin, Sumon had also been abducted by “an organized criminal gang” that they were trying to identify and catch. It stated: “The case is under investigation and we are deploying modern technologies.”28

Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities also said that on November 19, 2014, the investigation responsibility was transferred to the DB of the police.29 In April 2016, following the March court order seeking state response to the habeas corpus petition, DB officials contacted Amin’s family and asked to get more information about the incident. Amin’s cousin said that the whole exercise was cruel and farcical: “I felt it was like a joke—him coming after three years and asking about [my cousin] like this. He said, ‘Don’t worry, you will get justice.’”

Sumon’s sister, Afroja Islam Aqi, said that she, her sisters, and her mother went to the RAB office every week for five years after her brother was disappeared. But every time RAB denied everything. “We were begging and begging but they gave nothing.”30 Sumon’s mother, Hajera, says his daughters ask for him often, which she says brings her great pain. “If Sumon did any offence, then he should be brought to justice under the existing legal system,” She said.31

“I am broken,” Masum’s mother said. “There is nobody here to call me mother. The only thing I want is for my son to return, that is the only expectation. We won’t even talk about it. We’ll forget what happened, just bring him back. Everything is lost from my end.”32

Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir are still missing.33

On the morning of November 28, Samarat Molla, Khaled Hossain Sohel, and four other Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) supporters—named here “W,” “X,” “Y,” and “Z”—went to the Dhaka Central Jail to visit their mutual friend Sonjoy.¹ All of them lived in Sutrapur, a neighborhood in Old Dhaka.

The men came to the prison in two groups at around 11 a.m.: W, Y, and Z in one group, and Molla, Sohel, and X in another. In order to enter the jail, the men had to hand over their phones, for which they were each given tokens to retrieve them upon exit. Sohel’s wife, Shami Sultana, said that the manager in charge of holding the phones told Sohel’s brother that some men had come and confiscated the six phones, telling the manager that they were from the Detective Branch (DB).²

After exiting the jail, according to W, X, and Y—the men who were subsequently released—at around 1:15 p.m., Z wanted to say his prayers and went to a nearby mosque, leaving the five friends standing outside the jail. Y then told the others that he had some work and started to leave the prison area. As Y walked away, two men in civilian clothes approached him. He then walked back with about six men following him. Four men, who were all in civilian clothes and did not appear to have any weapons on them, asked each of them their names. “When Samarat Molla gave his name, it was clear from the men’s response that they were most interested in him,” W said. “They took all five of us to a silver colored microbus which was standing just outside the jail wall.”³

According to Molla’s family members, W, X, and Y later told them that the men had beaten up Molla, accusing him of arson attacks.

After nine days, on December 7, W, X and Y, who were not BNP post-holders, were told that they would be released the following day. They were warned against talking about their detention. At about midnight, the three of them were put into a car. The car stopped after about an hour and a half, and they were pushed out of the vehicle and told to run. They later discovered they were in Bikrampur, more than 50 kilometers south of Dhaka.⁴

A day before he was picked up, police had visited Sohel’s house in Bangla Bazar where he usually lived with his wife. The BNP student activist, who according to his family had no criminal cases filed against him, was residing elsewhere in order to avoid arrest. After the police left the house, Sohel’s wife, Sayeed Shammi Sultana, said she phoned her husband to warn him.⁵

Sultana discovered her husband was missing after his colleague, Selim Reza Pintu, said that Sohel’s phone was not reachable.⁶ Fearing he had been arrested, family members and friends started contacting different police stations. The following day, Sultana lodged a missing person complaint at the Chawk Bazar Police Station.⁷

Molla’s family heard that the men had been picked up by law enforcement authorities late at night on November 28 when they received a call from a friend.⁸ His family said that the police delayed filing a general diary, at one point an officer allegedly told his brother, “You did not tell us that your brother was involved in politics! So, no GD!”⁹ Molla’s family was finally able to file a general diary in 2016, but only on condition that they referred to Molla as “missing” and wouldn’t mention anything about law enforcement.¹⁰

Sultana said that at DB headquarters officers denied the men were in their custody. “The first question the police asked was whether they had any political affiliations. They seemed reluctant to speak to us and told us not to hang round here,” she said. She said she and other family members continued to visit the DB office. “The last time we went was the tenth day after they were taken [December 8], and were told not to bother coming.”¹¹ On December 8, three of the friends who had been taken with Sohel were released.

In May 2014, six months after the men disappeared, the police set up a 40-member anti-kidnapping team, and Sultana lodged a complaint with the team.¹² Soon after, she met with an additional deputy commissioner of police who put her in touch with an official from the DB. However, both families have received no further information about the whereabouts or fate of Molla or Sohel.

Meanwhile Molla’s and Sohel’s families say that the police continue to harass them, coming by and accusing them of hiding the two disappeared men.¹³

Samarat Molla and Khaled Hossain Sohel are still missing.

A few days before he went missing, Tariqul Alam Tuhin had allegedly been in a dispute with another Awami League Benapole Panel Mayor.¹ Tuhin’s wife, Salma Khatun, said that the last she had spoken to her husband was at 9:17 a.m. on March 7, 2013, when he told her on the phone that he was coming back to Benapole on a flight from Dhaka. But he never returned.

She said that in the days before he disappeared, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers had come to their home twice looking for Tuhin—on March 3 and March 5. Then, on March 7, 2013, just before he was supposed to catch his flight home, Tuhin disappeared after leaving parliamentarian Sheikh Afil Uddin’s flat in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.²

Because RAB had been looking for him days before, Khatun said that she believes RAB had something to do with his disappearance.³ On March 12, 2013, Tuhin’s cousin, Sumon Mahmud filed a general diary (GD) with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station. On March 13, 2013, Khatun and Mahmud filed a kidnapping case at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.⁴ Mahmud said that after investigating the case, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police submitted the final report to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, essentially closing the case. Mahmud filed a Naraji petition—a petition arguing that the police investigation was fraudulent, biased, or was politically influenced, in which case the magistrate will order a further investigation—and the court directed the Detective Branch (DB) of Police to investigate the case. The DB police also submitted a final report and Mahmud again filed a Naraji petition. The Court then ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate the case. When the CID, like others, submitted the final report to the court, Mahmud again filed a Naraji petition, and the court directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the case. The PBI filed another final report and again Mahmud filed a Naraji petition. This time the court referred the case back to the CID to re-investigate the case, where it is currently pending.⁵

Tariqul Alam Tuhin is still missing.

Raju Islam’s wife, Rumana Akhter, said that on March 20, 2015 at around 4 p.m., Islam and his friend Al Amin had gone to play cricket at Suhrawady Udyan. She said that at 9 p.m. he called to tell her he was almost home. About 15 minutes later, though, she says Al Amin called and told her that some officers from the Detective Branch (DB) of Police had taken Islam and their other friend Shaon.¹

Al Amin told Akhter that after playing cricket, he, Islam, and their friend Shaon were having tea at a stall on the roadside in front of the main gate of the water tank when suddenly a group of men in plainclothes came over, said they were from the DB, and grabbed Al Amin, Shaon, and Islam by their collars, asking for their names. When they gave them, the men took Islam and Shaon.²

Akhter went straight to the Detective Branch office on Mintu road first thing the next morning and then to the RAB office, but the officers at both offices said Islam had not been arrested. Akhter said they lodged a general diary (GD) with Motijheel Police Station and followed up with other stations but received no information about her husband’s or Shaon’s whereabouts.³

Raju Islam and Shaon are still missing.⁴

Adnan Chowdhury, 28, a Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) supporter, lived with his wife and parents in Shaheenbagh in Dhaka. Early on December 5, 2013, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) men came to Chowdhury’s home, woke him up, and took him away in front of his father and wife.

Marjina Sultana Tonni, his wife, said that Chowdhury came home late on the night of December 4, after visiting the family of local political leader, Sajedul Islam Sumon, who had been picked up along with five party colleagues.1 Later that night, there was loud knocking, and Chowdhury’s father, Ruhul Amin Chowdhury, answered the door. He told Human Rights Watch:

“There was a knock on the door at about 2 a.m. When I asked, one of them said that they were from the “administration.” I did not want to open the door, but he said that they were from a government force and so “I must open the door.” There were perhaps 15 to 20 people who came into the house. One of them asked, “Where is Adnan sleeping?” I showed them the room. Some of the men were wearing RAB uniforms with “RAB” written on it on both the front and back. Not all of them were wearing a uniform, some were wearing civilian clothes. They told me to sit down in another room.”2

Chowdhury’s wife said that soon after, some of the men entered their bedroom. She said:

“When the men opened our door, they asked me to leave the room. I then heard them telling Adnan to change his clothes. I heard some of the men say, “We should talk to his wife and show some sympathy,” but they didn’t talk to me. Some of the men were wearing black uniforms, the uniform of RAB. Others wore civilian dress. One had a jacket with the letters “RAB” written on it in yellow. I saw about 5 or 6 people. Some searched the rooms. At one point, one of the men said, “We will send him back.” Another man said to me, “Don’t worry.””3

Ruhul Amin Chowdhury said the officials asked his son some questions and then took him away. Some of the other men also searched the rest of the house, and questioned their tenants. He said that his son “was surprised, but did not appear afraid.” He saw that the forces had arrived in at least two microbuses and a jeep.4

Chowdhury was a BNP supporter, but he was not particularly politically active. According to his father, Chowdhury already had a visa and was planning to migrate to Malaysia for work. “Adnan probably didn’t think it was so serious. He didn’t realize that Sumon will be taken and that they will come after him right away,” Ruhul Amin Chowdhury said. “None of us imagined that something like this can happen. That people will disappear.”5

The next morning, when Chowdhury, who did not have any criminal cases filed against him according to his family, did not return home, his father went to the RAB-2 office, the DB office, and the Tejgaon Police Station to look for this son, but no one could provide information.

“I went back a number of times [to the police station] over the next month to file a GD, but they did not let me file one if I alleged that RAB was involved. I then agreed to drop the word “RAB” and instead put “law enforcement agency,” but the police still did not allow me to file a GD. As a result, I did not file a GD.”6

Chowdhury’s father said that authorities violated his trust:

“I was sure that if they [RAB] don’t find anything against Adnan, they will let him go. They said, “We are taking him. We will bring him back.” They betrayed us. They said that they were going to return my son, but they told lies. After the day I visited RAB-1 and RAB-2, I lost all faith in them and did not visit them again. I personally handed over my son to RAB and now they are denying that, so why should I go to them?”7

Another eyewitness saw Chowdhury in security force custody when Mohammad Kawsar, 22, was detained shortly afterward.

Shortly after RAB picked up Chowdhury, they brought him to identify Kawsar, a driver who lived in a room in a compound in West Nakhalpara, a short walk from Chowdhury’s house.

The gate of the West Nakhalpara compound where Kawsar lived with his wife and child was locked on the night of December 5. The caretaker, who had the key to the gate, said he was asleep at about 3 a.m. when he was woken up by 10 to 15 men asking him to open the gate. They entered the compound. “Many of the men were wearing black uniforms and some had the words ‘RAB’ written on their back,” he said.8

The men went to Kawsar’s room. His wife and child were in Barisal with her parents, and two friends were sharing his room that night. One said:

“Kawsar came back from work at around midnight with a friend. Until about 1:30 in the morning, we were watching TV and chatting inside the room. Then we all fell asleep. Suddenly we heard someone beating very loudly at the door. I said to Kawsar, “Open the door.” But he did not wake up. The other friend opened it and as soon as he opened it about eight or 10 people entered the room and turned on the light. Two of the men wore black clothes, and the others wore civil dress. Some had RAB vests.”9

The witness said he saw Chowdhury, who had just been picked up by RAB officers.

“They told Adnan to come inside. They used his name which is how I knew. The men were beating us and getting us to wake up as we were still half asleep. Adnan was in handcuffs and they were beating him, slapping him about. Then they asked Adnan, “Who is Kawsar?” and he pointed him out. Then both were beaten. They were both screaming. Then the officers searched the room, and took the SIM cards from our phones. The men perhaps stayed for at most 15 minutes and then took Kawsar and Adnan out of the room. They told me and Kawsar’s friend to stay inside. Later, we tried to come out, but the doors had been locked from the outside. We heard the forces beating and shouting at both of them outside.”10

Kawsar’s wife, Minu Akhter, said that witnesses told her that the car they took Chowdhury and Kawsar away in had a license plate that said “RAB-1.”11

Kawsar’s mother, Komla Akhter, works in a garment factory and lived in the Farmgate area of Dhaka. She said that one of Kawsar’s friends informed her of his detention early in the morning. She went to the Tejgaon Police Station, where she stayed the whole day: “I tried to lodge a GD but the police refused to accept a complaint that mentioned RAB.”12

Adnan Chowdhury and Mohammad Kawsar are still missing.

In the early afternoon of December 2, 2013, seven activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) student wing were socializing inside the Suhrawardy Udyan Park in central Dhaka. Five of the activists—including Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohammad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal—walked to a nearby restaurant at an intersection in central Dhaka known as Shahbagh, while the other two went to the neighboring Shishu Amusement Park to purchase tickets so that after lunch they could meet inside.¹ As the five men left the Shahbagh restaurant and walked back toward Shishu Amusement Park, four of them— Sarkar, Zahir, Hossain, and Chanchal—were picked up by law enforcement officers dressed in civilian dress and were bundled into a microbus. Two of the three remaining men witnessed the detention and asked not to be identified.

One of the men present at the restaurant, along with the other four who were disappeared, said that that the group had planned to meet at Shishu Amusement Park because they considered it safe. He said security forces caught up with them as they were leaving the restaurant:

“I was the first to leave, and I noticed as I left that there were two microbuses parked ahead of us, but I got distracted because I received a phone call. I slowed down and the others went ahead of me. As they got closer to Shishu Amusement Park they came to an area of pavement where there are boundary railings of Shishu Amusement Park on the right and on the left, another set of railings which separate the pavement from the road. As they entered this area, I suddenly heard someone shouting, “Catch them, catch them.” The men could not escape as there were these railings on both sides. As this was happening, I had not quite reached the part of the pavement [with the railings] and so I could cross the road, which is what I did. I saw my friends being grabbed and put into a microbus by men dressed in plainclothes.”²

As soon as the vehicles disappeared, the witness called his political colleagues to warn them to stay away from Shishu Amusement Park.³ One of the two men that had been waiting inside the main entrance of the park also witnessed the detention.⁴

Sarkar’s father, Mohammad Shamsul Rahman, said that he received a call from one of his son’s colleagues who witnessed his son’s detention. He said he then tried to find his son:

“After I had finished the call, another son of mine called Sohel’s phone. It was answered but there was a lot of noise and crying. I went to Shahbagh Police Station and asked whether four people had been taken, but the police denied this. I found someone who I knew at the police station, and he showed me the cells and said, “Look, he is not there.” I tried to file a GD at the station but the police did not allow me to do that. I went the following day to the DB office but they said that they were not involved and had no information.”⁵

Rahman was later able to file a GD in his local police station in Bangshal, but the police only allowed him to file a missing person complaint, and not allege that his son was taken by law enforcement officers.⁶

Sarkar’s wife, Nilufar Yasmin Shilpi, said that when she heard her husband and his colleagues had been picked up, she immediately tried calling him and someone picked up the phone. She said she could hear Sarkar crying and then the phone call dropped and was switched off. This was the last she heard her husband.⁷

Hossain’s wife, Farzeena Akhter, said her husband had about six criminal cases lodged against him, which she claimed were all false allegations for his political activities.⁸ When she and other family members went to the DB office, they were not allowed into the building. The family filed a missing person GD on December 14, 2013, at the police station.

Chanchal’s wife, Reshma Akhter, said that when her husband, who she said had no criminal cases against him, did not return as planned for a family outing, she started calling him but his phone was switched off.⁹ She finally called Anwar Hossain, Chanchal’s brother. Anwar went to the police but was told that they had not arrested anyone by that name.¹⁰ Chanchal’s relatives also went to the DB and RAB offices, but the officials denied having him in custody. They lodged a missing person GD on December 22, 2013.

Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hossain, who said that his brother had as many as 25 criminal cases of a “political” nature against him, said that the police only allowed him to file a missing person GD, which he did on December 14.¹¹

A day or two after the four men were picked up, a local businessman said he saw the four men detained at the DB office:

“On December 3, I visited the DB office at about 3 p.m. to meet a friend of mine who worked there. While I was there, I saw a man detained inside the DB office. On the following day, Sohel’s father came to meet me and said that his son and three others had been picked up by the police. Sohel’s father showed me a photograph and I recognized him as being the same person who I had seen the previous day in the DB office. I returned to the DB office a day or so later to confirm this. I made another appointment with the DB officer. I did not go directly to his office but went to an area on the ground floor, and I saw about seven detained men. Subsequently, I saw the photographs of the three other men that were picked up and they were of the same men that I had seen inside.”¹²

The businessman then discovered that Sarkar was thought to be “Chacha Sohel,” someone the authorities considered to be “notorious” in the area.

“A senior police officer told me that there are strict instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office that Chacha Sohel should not be released because of his crimes. He then told me not to get involved. I called a friend in the Detective Branch with the rank of inspector and he advised me not to call again on this matter to avoid trouble. I was frightened and stopped communication with the BNP people.”¹³

The businessman said that he also introduced the relatives of some of the families to a retired major, who said that he was willing to help intervene in the case.

“On around the 13th of December, I brought the major [name withheld] to meet Sohel’s father. The father explained what happened to his son and the three other men. The major then called one of his friends serving in DB, and it was on speakerphone and I heard what was said. One official said, “Yes, Sohel was in our custody and we kept him for observation.” But he said that Sohel was no longer in the DB office, and that he did not where he is.”¹⁴

Some of the families said that the police continue to harass them. Sarkar’s wife said that the police often come to their house and accuse them of hiding Sarkar.¹⁵ Similarly, Hossain’s wife, Farzana, said after they filed a general diary the police came to her house threatening to arrest her. She said she had to pay them 12,000 Taka (US$140) to stop them from harassing her family.¹⁶ Still, in 2019 she said the police called, pressuring her to withdraw the general diary she filed after Hossain disappeared. She said she refused saying that when Hossain returns, she will withdraw the case.¹⁷ Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hassan, said his family faced similar harassment from the police. He said there were 12-13 cases filed against Zahir with arrest warrants issued so the police came to their home seven or eight times demanding that his mother and father show where Zahir was hiding. They were even issued a notice that the court would confiscate their property if Zahir did not show up in court. Every time the officers came, they allegedly took somewhere between 1,000-5,000 Taka ($12-60). Every time they came, Kamal says they threatened the family saying “there are a lot of cases against Zahir and now you are hiding him. Bring him, otherwise we will arrest you.” Eventually they stopped in 2016 after neighbors went to the police and insisted that Zahir was missing and to stop harassing the family.

Shilpi and Sarkar’s father, Shamsur, said that they are distressed and sad after the disappearance of Sarkar and are struggling financially, especially since Sarkar was the primary income earner for the family. Since he went missing they had also exhausted their resources searching for him.¹⁸

Hossain’s wife said that when her husband was picked up, she was four-months pregnant, and her children have been growing up without their father. Her son is now seven and her daughter is 10 years old. “I need to know exactly what happened to my husband. Without knowing, it’s not possible to sustain life with dignity,” she said.

Chanchal’s mother, Bibi Hazera, said that Chanchal had been very attached to her and supported her financially. She told Odhikar how Hossain had paid for her eye operation just a few days before his disappearance. She told the human rights organization, Odhikar, that she “feels sad seeing the mental and financial hurdles that Hossain’s wife and his seven-year-old son face.”¹⁹ Chanchal’s wife said that she is constantly thinking of him and has left all of his belongings in place in case he returns. “I am living life without life,” she said.²⁰

Zahir’s mother, Hosne Ara Begum, told Odhikar “every day and night, I believe Zahir will come back to me.”²¹

Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohamad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal are still missing.

Mohammad Imam Hassan’s father, Ruhul Amin, said that on March 5, 2012, some men called him to say that they had kidnapped his son from Anwara Park in Farmgate. Amin immediately gave over their names and the phone number to officers of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Unit 2. The next evening, one of the kidnappers called to tell him that his son had been taken by RAB. When Amin called RAB-2 he said they confirmed to him that indeed they had rescued his son. But when Amin and his wife got to the RAB-2 office in Dhaka on March 13, 2012, according to Amin, officers there demanded 100 thousand Taka (US$1,180) for rescuing Hassan.¹ Amin said he was able to give nearly half but still Hassan was not released.²

On April 30, 2012, Amin submitted a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the NHRC reportedly directed the Home Ministry to take necessary steps to resolve the case. The Home Ministry in turn directed RAB to investigate the case.³ Amin said that the NHRC also told him that the Anti-Corruption Commission had investigated the matter and found no evidence of the RAB officer he says he paid taking any bribe. Amin then filed a habeas corpus writ petition to the High Court Division.⁴ On November 13, 2012, the High Court ordered RAB-2 officials to produce Hassan before the court.

In 2019, his mother, Minara Begum, told the media “I have been waiting for my son every day for the last seven years.”⁵

Mohammad Imam Hassan is still missing.⁶

Raju Islam’s wife, Rumana Akhter, said that on March 20, 2015 at around 4 p.m., Islam and his friend Al Amin had gone to play cricket at Suhrawady Udyan. She said that at 9 p.m. he called to tell her he was almost home. About 15 minutes later, though, she says Al Amin called and told her that some officers from the Detective Branch (DB) of Police had taken Islam and their other friend Shaon.¹

Al Amin told Akhter that after playing cricket, he, Islam, and their friend Shaon were having tea at a stall on the roadside in front of the main gate of the water tank when suddenly a group of men in plainclothes came over, said they were from the DB, and grabbed Al Amin, Shaon, and Islam by their collars, asking for their names. When they gave them, the men took Islam and Shaon.²

Akhter went straight to the Detective Branch office on Mintu road first thing the next morning and then to the RAB office, but the officers at both offices said Islam had not been arrested. Akhter said they lodged a general diary (GD) with Motijheel Police Station and followed up with other stations but received no information about her husband’s or Shaon’s whereabouts.³

Raju Islam and Shaon are still missing.⁴

Adnan Chowdhury, 28, a Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) supporter, lived with his wife and parents in Shaheenbagh in Dhaka. Early on December 5, 2013, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) men came to Chowdhury’s home, woke him up, and took him away in front of his father and wife.

Marjina Sultana Tonni, his wife, said that Chowdhury came home late on the night of December 4, after visiting the family of local political leader, Sajedul Islam Sumon, who had been picked up along with five party colleagues.1 Later that night, there was loud knocking, and Chowdhury’s father, Ruhul Amin Chowdhury, answered the door. He told Human Rights Watch:

“There was a knock on the door at about 2 a.m. When I asked, one of them said that they were from the “administration.” I did not want to open the door, but he said that they were from a government force and so “I must open the door.” There were perhaps 15 to 20 people who came into the house. One of them asked, “Where is Adnan sleeping?” I showed them the room. Some of the men were wearing RAB uniforms with “RAB” written on it on both the front and back. Not all of them were wearing a uniform, some were wearing civilian clothes. They told me to sit down in another room.”2

Chowdhury’s wife said that soon after, some of the men entered their bedroom. She said:

“When the men opened our door, they asked me to leave the room. I then heard them telling Adnan to change his clothes. I heard some of the men say, “We should talk to his wife and show some sympathy,” but they didn’t talk to me. Some of the men were wearing black uniforms, the uniform of RAB. Others wore civilian dress. One had a jacket with the letters “RAB” written on it in yellow. I saw about 5 or 6 people. Some searched the rooms. At one point, one of the men said, “We will send him back.” Another man said to me, “Don’t worry.””3

Ruhul Amin Chowdhury said the officials asked his son some questions and then took him away. Some of the other men also searched the rest of the house, and questioned their tenants. He said that his son “was surprised, but did not appear afraid.” He saw that the forces had arrived in at least two microbuses and a jeep.4

Chowdhury was a BNP supporter, but he was not particularly politically active. According to his father, Chowdhury already had a visa and was planning to migrate to Malaysia for work. “Adnan probably didn’t think it was so serious. He didn’t realize that Sumon will be taken and that they will come after him right away,” Ruhul Amin Chowdhury said. “None of us imagined that something like this can happen. That people will disappear.”5

The next morning, when Chowdhury, who did not have any criminal cases filed against him according to his family, did not return home, his father went to the RAB-2 office, the DB office, and the Tejgaon Police Station to look for this son, but no one could provide information.

“I went back a number of times [to the police station] over the next month to file a GD, but they did not let me file one if I alleged that RAB was involved. I then agreed to drop the word “RAB” and instead put “law enforcement agency,” but the police still did not allow me to file a GD. As a result, I did not file a GD.”6

Chowdhury’s father said that authorities violated his trust:

“I was sure that if they [RAB] don’t find anything against Adnan, they will let him go. They said, “We are taking him. We will bring him back.” They betrayed us. They said that they were going to return my son, but they told lies. After the day I visited RAB-1 and RAB-2, I lost all faith in them and did not visit them again. I personally handed over my son to RAB and now they are denying that, so why should I go to them?”7

Another eyewitness saw Chowdhury in security force custody when Mohammad Kawsar, 22, was detained shortly afterward.

Shortly after RAB picked up Chowdhury, they brought him to identify Kawsar, a driver who lived in a room in a compound in West Nakhalpara, a short walk from Chowdhury’s house.

The gate of the West Nakhalpara compound where Kawsar lived with his wife and child was locked on the night of December 5. The caretaker, who had the key to the gate, said he was asleep at about 3 a.m. when he was woken up by 10 to 15 men asking him to open the gate. They entered the compound. “Many of the men were wearing black uniforms and some had the words ‘RAB’ written on their back,” he said.8

The men went to Kawsar’s room. His wife and child were in Barisal with her parents, and two friends were sharing his room that night. One said:

“Kawsar came back from work at around midnight with a friend. Until about 1:30 in the morning, we were watching TV and chatting inside the room. Then we all fell asleep. Suddenly we heard someone beating very loudly at the door. I said to Kawsar, “Open the door.” But he did not wake up. The other friend opened it and as soon as he opened it about eight or 10 people entered the room and turned on the light. Two of the men wore black clothes, and the others wore civil dress. Some had RAB vests.”9

The witness said he saw Chowdhury, who had just been picked up by RAB officers.

“They told Adnan to come inside. They used his name which is how I knew. The men were beating us and getting us to wake up as we were still half asleep. Adnan was in handcuffs and they were beating him, slapping him about. Then they asked Adnan, “Who is Kawsar?” and he pointed him out. Then both were beaten. They were both screaming. Then the officers searched the room, and took the SIM cards from our phones. The men perhaps stayed for at most 15 minutes and then took Kawsar and Adnan out of the room. They told me and Kawsar’s friend to stay inside. Later, we tried to come out, but the doors had been locked from the outside. We heard the forces beating and shouting at both of them outside.”10

Kawsar’s wife, Minu Akhter, said that witnesses told her that the car they took Chowdhury and Kawsar away in had a license plate that said “RAB-1.”11

Kawsar’s mother, Komla Akhter, works in a garment factory and lived in the Farmgate area of Dhaka. She said that one of Kawsar’s friends informed her of his detention early in the morning. She went to the Tejgaon Police Station, where she stayed the whole day: “I tried to lodge a GD but the police refused to accept a complaint that mentioned RAB.”12

Adnan Chowdhury and Mohammad Kawsar are still missing.

Mofizul Islam Rashed’s wife, Marufa Islam Ruma, said that in the evening of April 4, 2013 her husband went for a cup of tea at the tea stall in front of Diamond Sweater Industries Limited near their home. Shortly after, the tea stall owner came and told Rashed’s parents that a group of three or four men wearing plainclothes with jackets that said “DB” (Detective Branch) had come to the tea stall, identified themselves as law enforcement, grabbed Rashed, and forced him inside a gray microbus.¹

Marufa said that she assumed Rashed had been arrested for his affiliation with the opposition party and that he would soon be shown arrested. But when she and his family went to the Detective Branch, other police offices, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Unit 4 office, officers all denied arresting him. Instead, they taunted her, insisting that perhaps Rashed was having an affair and had left her.² On April 8, 2013, the family filed a general diary with Darus Salam Police Station, but the general diary (GD) only stated that Rashed was missing because, Marufa said, the police refused to file a GD if it mentioned that law enforcement officers had taken Rashed away.³

Mofizul Islam Rashed is still missing.⁴

According to Kamal Hossain’s wife, Mosamat Sharmin, a relative called her at around 8 a.m. on March 20, 2013, and told her that the previous night people in plainclothes claiming to be members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had arrested Hossain along with Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil and Toyob Pramanik.¹

Another witness, named here “E,” said that security forces—some in plainclothes, and others in RAB uniforms— arrived at his home the night of March 19, 2013, and that E noticed that Hossain, Khalil, and Pramanik were in their custody. The officers said they were looking for E’s son. But the son was not home. E said that the men then beat him up and drove away with Khalil, Hossain, and Pramanik.

A grocery shopkeeper said that on May 19, 2013, at around 11 p.m. he was sitting at his shop when 10 to 12 men—some in plainclothes, some in RAB uniforms—pulled up in a microbus to his shop. He said that all of them were armed and they asked for pan (betel leaf) and cigarettes, and that one of the men told them not to sell anything to anyone else while they were there. As they were pulling away, the shopkeeper said he saw Pramanik, Hossain, and Khalil in the microbus heading towards Bonpara (south in the direction of Dhaka).² On May 20, 2013, Khalil’s brother, Mohammad Lokman Talukdar, filed a general diary (GD) with the Boraigram Police Station.

Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, Kamal Hossain, and Toyob Pramanik are still missing.

Al Mukkaddas’ uncle, Mohammad Abdul Hai, said that Al Mukaddas and Mohammad Wali Ullah had been staying in Dhaka at their friend’s home and were meant to return in the evening of February 4, 2012, but did not turn up. Hai said that on February 6, 2012, at around 3 p.m., Al Mukaddas’ younger sister called him to say that she was worried because Al Mukaddas’ cell phone was switched off and that he wasn’t at university or at home.

Hai went to the Paltan Police Station to file a general diary (GD) and called Al Mukaddas’ friends to see if they knew where he was. Al Mukaddas’ friend told him that he had talked to Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah the evening of February 4 and they had told him that they were taking the Hanif Enterprise Bus departing from Kolyanpur for Kushtia at 11:30 p.m.¹ Hai then went to Darus Salam Police Station to file another GD where he met Wali Ullah’s brother, Khalid Saif Ullah. Saif Ullah said that at around 3 p.m. on February 5, 2012, one of Wali Ullah’s classmates from the Islamic University called to tell him that Wali Ullah’s phone was switched off and that he had not returned from Dhaka. Both Saif Ullah and Hai lodged a GD at the Darus Salam Police Station.²

The two men then went to the Hanif Enterprise Bus counter where the bus supervisor told them that indeed Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah had boarded bus number 3750 at 11:30 p.m. from Kolyanpur bus stand heading to Kushtia. However, when the bus reached Nobinagar, Savar, sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m., when the bus was stopped in traffic, a white microbus arrived and seven or eight men got out, wearing what he believed were Detective Branch (DB) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) uniforms. Some of the men boarded the bus and forced Wali Ullah and Al Mukaddas out of their seats.³ The bus supervisor said he asked where they were taking his passengers and that one of the men in DB uniform replied that there were charges filed against the two and that they would be released after interrogation.⁴

Hai and Saif Ullah then went to the Ashulia Police Station and filed another GD, then went to the RAB-4 office to inquire about their family members’ whereabouts. Hai said that the duty officer at RAB-4 told them to go to Nobinagar Camp, but when they reached Nobinagar Camp, the RAB officer there told them that nobody had been arrested on February 4.

On February 10, 2012, Hai held a press conference demanding that Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah be returned. On February 12, 2012, he filed a habeas corpus writ petition in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. ⁵ The High Court ordered that the Secretary of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Inspector General of Police, Director General of RAB, and the Deputy Commissioner of the DB produce both men in the court within three weeks or give an explanation. Despite court orders, there has been no progress on the case.

Al Mukaddas and Mohammad Wali Ullah are still missing.

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Raja’s mother, Lipi Akter, said that on April 25, 2013, her son went with his friends to visit Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka, but he didn’t return. About 20 days later she heard from three of Raja’s friends—named here “A,” “B,” and “C”. A told her that on April 26, 2013, when they were returning home from Lalbagh fort, a few men in plainclothes had approached them, introduced themselves as members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police, and said they were arresting them as the accused in a murder case. The men then forced them into a white microbus and blindfolded them. A said that after a few minutes riding in the microbus, the men took them out and locked them in a “cage.” He said they were still blindfolded but could hear music outside.¹ B said that there had been other people detained there and that the officers tortured them and threatened them not to tell anyone.²

After her son had failed to return, Akter had called his friend, Roni Chowdhury, and asked him to meet her near his house. But the next day, he also disappeared. Chowdhury’s mother, Anjuman Ara, said that at around 9 a.m. on April 26, 2013, Chowdhury received a call, she thought from his friend Rafiqul, and left the house. At around 2 p.m., Chowdhury’s father Mozammel Hossain called Chowdhury’s mobile phone but found it switched off. They began searching everywhere for their son and heard from neighbors that their son had been taken away in a white microbus in front of the Al Islam Hotel, near their house in Keraniganj.³

A day after he was picked up, A said that while he was blindfolded in the cage, he thought he heard their friend Chowdhury. When he asked if it was him he said Chowdhury replied saying it was.

On June 13, 2013, Chowdhury’s mother, filed a general diary (GD) with South Keraniganj Police Station.⁴ On July 14, 2013, they submitted petitions to the inspector general of police, the Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner, the home ministry, the commander of RAB-10, and the national human rights commission.

A few months later, Raja’s and Chowdhury’s families arranged a press conference demanding their sons back. On October 4, 2013, the Lalbagh Assistant Police Commissioner’s Office sent a letter to the officer in charge of South Keraniganj Police Station to bring Akter, Ara, and two of the friends who had allegedly been detained with Raja and Chowdhury to Chawkbazar Police Station on October 13, 2013, but the friends did not go out of fear.⁵

In July 2020, Raja’s mother said she wanted to share the information about her son’s disappearance with the world so that she could get her son back. She said if he was dead, she “at least wants her son’s body so that she can do the proper rituals and pray.”⁶ Chowdhury’s mother said that she is suffering from mental trauma, cannot sleep well, and always feels anxious.⁷

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Raja and Roni Chowdhury are still missing.

On the morning of November 28, Samarat Molla, Khaled Hossain Sohel, and four other Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) supporters—named here “W,” “X,” “Y,” and “Z”—went to the Dhaka Central Jail to visit their mutual friend Sonjoy.¹ All of them lived in Sutrapur, a neighborhood in Old Dhaka.

The men came to the prison in two groups at around 11 a.m.: W, Y, and Z in one group, and Molla, Sohel, and X in another. In order to enter the jail, the men had to hand over their phones, for which they were each given tokens to retrieve them upon exit. Sohel’s wife, Shami Sultana, said that the manager in charge of holding the phones told Sohel’s brother that some men had come and confiscated the six phones, telling the manager that they were from the Detective Branch (DB).²

After exiting the jail, according to W, X, and Y—the men who were subsequently released—at around 1:15 p.m., Z wanted to say his prayers and went to a nearby mosque, leaving the five friends standing outside the jail. Y then told the others that he had some work and started to leave the prison area. As Y walked away, two men in civilian clothes approached him. He then walked back with about six men following him. Four men, who were all in civilian clothes and did not appear to have any weapons on them, asked each of them their names. “When Samarat Molla gave his name, it was clear from the men’s response that they were most interested in him,” W said. “They took all five of us to a silver colored microbus which was standing just outside the jail wall.”³

According to Molla’s family members, W, X, and Y later told them that the men had beaten up Molla, accusing him of arson attacks.

After nine days, on December 7, W, X and Y, who were not BNP post-holders, were told that they would be released the following day. They were warned against talking about their detention. At about midnight, the three of them were put into a car. The car stopped after about an hour and a half, and they were pushed out of the vehicle and told to run. They later discovered they were in Bikrampur, more than 50 kilometers south of Dhaka.⁴

A day before he was picked up, police had visited Sohel’s house in Bangla Bazar where he usually lived with his wife. The BNP student activist, who according to his family had no criminal cases filed against him, was residing elsewhere in order to avoid arrest. After the police left the house, Sohel’s wife, Sayeed Shammi Sultana, said she phoned her husband to warn him.⁵

Sultana discovered her husband was missing after his colleague, Selim Reza Pintu, said that Sohel’s phone was not reachable.⁶ Fearing he had been arrested, family members and friends started contacting different police stations. The following day, Sultana lodged a missing person complaint at the Chawk Bazar Police Station.⁷

Molla’s family heard that the men had been picked up by law enforcement authorities late at night on November 28 when they received a call from a friend.⁸ His family said that the police delayed filing a general diary, at one point an officer allegedly told his brother, “You did not tell us that your brother was involved in politics! So, no GD!”⁹ Molla’s family was finally able to file a general diary in 2016, but only on condition that they referred to Molla as “missing” and wouldn’t mention anything about law enforcement.¹⁰

Sultana said that at DB headquarters officers denied the men were in their custody. “The first question the police asked was whether they had any political affiliations. They seemed reluctant to speak to us and told us not to hang round here,” she said. She said she and other family members continued to visit the DB office. “The last time we went was the tenth day after they were taken [December 8], and were told not to bother coming.”¹¹ On December 8, three of the friends who had been taken with Sohel were released.

In May 2014, six months after the men disappeared, the police set up a 40-member anti-kidnapping team, and Sultana lodged a complaint with the team.¹² Soon after, she met with an additional deputy commissioner of police who put her in touch with an official from the DB. However, both families have received no further information about the whereabouts or fate of Molla or Sohel.

Meanwhile Molla’s and Sohel’s families say that the police continue to harass them, coming by and accusing them of hiding the two disappeared men.¹³

Samarat Molla and Khaled Hossain Sohel are still missing.

At about 8 p.m. on December 4, 2013, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir were picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers outside a building under construction in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon was the only post-holder for the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), and according to family members, the only one with a criminal case filed against him; the others were all supporters and activists. There were two other men present at the time, but they managed to escape.

One of the two men who escaped said that the meeting had been called by Sumon. RAB officers arrived soon after:

“For 40 or 45 minutes we were chatting. We were talking about the momentum of protest. After that, four of the men left by foot, leaving four of us—Tanvir, Sumon, myself, and [name withheld] behind. Two of us then went to the other side of a cement mixing machine to have a smoke. Suddenly we saw vehicles approaching. There was more than one car, but I can’t say exactly how many. There were some men in black uniforms who came out of the vehicles. They had weapons. The cars had their lights on so I could see the men, the color of their uniform. There was one car with “RAB-1″ written on it. I am sure that it was definitely RAB because of the clothes, and because I saw RAB-1 logo on the car. I could make out that people were being taken into a vehicle and that it left.”¹

A construction worker at the site who witnessed the detention said he knew Tanvir because the family owned the property and had seen Sumon earlier. He said:

“Tanvir and Sumon were still standing there talking when the vehicles came. Four of the men [who came down from the vehicle] wore civil dress and another seven or eight were dressed in the black clothing of RAB, with a cloth around the head. All the men had guns. Sumon and Tanvir were both beaten up before they were put in the car. “Why you are arresting us, we are not these type of people,” they said at the time of being picked up.”²

Six hours later, early the following morning, a contractor said he was returning from a night shift to Shaheen Bagh, the area where Sumon’s family lives, when he saw Sumon, whom he knew well, inside a car that he thought belonged to law enforcement authorities.³

Sumon was not at that time staying at his home in Shaheen Bagh because he feared arrest, and was instead living with his cousin, Tanvir, at their apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon’s sister, Sanjida Islam, said that they first heard that Sumon had been picked up when her family in Shaheen Bagh received a call from her aunt, Tanvir’s mother:

“My aunt said that it was RAB. Within half an hour my older sister, my husband, and my mother went to the RAB office in Uttara. I was pregnant at the time so I did not go. RAB people at the gate did not allow my family members in. The men at the reception denied they were involved in the detention. My sister, father, and mother stayed outside the RAB office throughout that night, and for the next three days one family member or the other was present outside the RAB office.”⁴

At about 11 p.m., one of the two men who had escaped being picked up came to their house though the back entrance. He told the family that Sumon had been taken away in RAB vehicles. The following day, Sanjida said that family members went to file a complaint with police:

“The next day my mother and older sister went to our local police station in Tejgaon to file a GD but the police said that they had to go to the police station of the PO [place of occurrence]. They then went to Vatara Police Station but the duty officer refused to allow them to file the GD if they claimed that RAB had taken my brother. They said that they could only give a GD if they said that Sumon was missing. As we did not want to do that, we did not file a GD.”⁵

Through family connections, Sumon’s family contacted a senior RAB officer [name withheld]:

“He began to speak to my mother on the phone, and to send messages. He made her believe that Sumon was going to be released soon. He said for example one day, “He will be with you next time you say your prayers.” Many times, he said that they were going to release Sumon. But nothing happened. This went on for two months.”⁶

Family members continued go to the RAB-1 office and RAB headquarters. At the end of January, Sumon’s mother and sister were invited to the office to meet an RAB-1 officer. Sanjida said:

“He admitted that Sumon had been detained. They praised my brother, saying that Sumon is good person, had a good reputation. He said that his boss had gone to see Sumon recently, to make sure he was all right in their custody. He suggested to us that we should communicate with Ziaul Ahsan, who was in charge of operations. He gave Ahsan’s landline and mobile number to my mother. When we met Ahsan, he was very arrogant. He said, “Why are so many army officials calling about Sumon? We have told you that we don’t have him and that we are searching for him.””⁷

The family gave its first written complaint to RAB on March 18, 2014, and has since given at least 12 further complaints to RAB (most recently on August 21, 2016), and five to other government authorities, including the home ministry, police, and military intelligence. The family has also made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission and filed a habeas corpus petition in court.

In May 2016, Sanjida met again with one of the RAB officials the family had met earlier, who had been a senior RAB-1 officer at the time of her brother’s disappearance, but had since left. He confirmed in a private meeting at a restaurant that RAB-1 had conducted the operation to pick up Sumon. He said that the six men had been in his custody and that he received an order to kill them, but he refused.⁸

According to Sanjida, the official said that RAB’s counterterrorism branch—under the command of Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, who subsequently became head of RAB’s intelligence wing—took the men from his custody. The official assumed they had been killed.⁹ In August 2016, Sanjida met with Azad, but he denied any involvement and, according to Sanjida, said: “We are searching. I will try to let you know whether he is alive or anywhere else.”

Russel’s sister, Nusrat Jahan Laboni, said she waited all night for her brother to come home, and in the morning discovered that his friends were missing as well.¹⁰ Family members approached RAB, DB, and various police stations several times but no one had any information about the detentions.¹¹

Amin’s father filed a missing person GD at Badda Police Station that covered the area where they lived.¹² The family also managed to file a First Information Report on January 26, 2014.¹³ Amin’s cousin, Yakoob, went to the construction site and the workers recognized his photograph, confirming that Amin was detained by RAB-1:

“I asked the workers how they knew that it was specifically RAB-1. They said that the security guards who work in that area are a little educated. After Al Amin Bhai and his friends were taken away by RAB, the workers went running toward the security guards, and the security guards told them that the vehicles had “RAB-1″ written on them.”¹⁴

Yakoob also went to the RAB office, where officials asked questions about witnesses to the abductions:

“The RAB officer asked me if I had any record or proof with me about the complaint. I replied to them that I had a recording of the statement that the workers and the caretaker gave. I showed the officer the recording. He took a record of the recording. Then I left the office and came back home. Afterward, I again contacted the officer to ask them if he has found anything about them yet. The officer replied that he will call us when it will be time. I called him three more times, but he couldn’t tell me anything else.”¹⁵

Masum’s mother, Ayesha Ali, said the family went to a number of police stations: “They said that no one had been arrested. On December 6, we went to file a GD in Tejgaon industrial area, but they only accepted a GD if we said that he was missing.”¹⁶

Rana’s sister, Meenara Begum, said that she too went to the police and RAB offices after she heard of the detention. They also filed a police complaint reporting that Rana was missing.¹⁷

Tanvir and Sumon are cousins. Tanvir’s mother, Nilifur Rana, also said that she went with her relatives to meet with RAB and DB officers, but everyone denied the detention.¹⁸

A year after the detentions, in December 2014, Sumon’s family made a formal complaint to the National Human Rights Commission. On December 17, the then chair of the NHRC wrote to the most senior civil servant of the home ministry setting out the allegation and “appealing to the government to take necessary action to bring back the son of Hazera Khatun and the others to the parents,” and to inform NHRC what action the ministry had taken by January 15, 2015.¹⁹

The ministry did not respond to this letter or to six other monthly reminders that the NHRC sent. However, on August 28, 2015, the ministry finally replied, stating that Sumon’s father had filed a case with the Vatara Police Station on January 26, 2014, and that the case was under investigation.²⁰ In a letter dated November 15, 2015, Sumon’s mother wrote that they had never filed a case of this kind because when they had gone to do so “the police refused to take the case.”²¹

The NHRC then wrote to the ministry stating that the police report did not contain any specific step as to “how you are trying to get the victims back,” and asked for a detailed report by December 20, 2015. On January 14, 2016, police sent a letter to Sumon’s mother asking her to come to the police station. This meeting never took place. Instead, Sumon’s family sent a note to the police setting out the details of Sumon’s disappearance.

In March 2016, Sumon’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court.²² She said that her son was illegally detained by RAB. The petition said that authorities had shown no inclination to investigate the incident, and that the court should order government authorities to produce him before the court.

On March 10, 2016, the court passed a rule nisi calling upon the Bangladesh government and various policing bodies to “show cause as to why the arrest/abduction/causing disappearance of the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon … should not be declared to be illegal and without lawful jurisdiction,” and pass such orders as the court considers necessary.²³

Following this order, the inspector general of police responded in an affidavit, “It was learnt from the respective units that neither Rapid Action Battalion nor any other unit of Bangladesh Police arrested said Sajedul Islam Sumon.”²⁴ RAB also filed an affidavit with the court stating, “RAB-1 did not pick up or arrest the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon and others,” and that “we are trying to find out the victims.”²⁵

There had been no further court hearing at time of writing, since the High Court passed its order.

Amin’s family was the only one to file a FIR involving the abduction.²⁶ His nephew, Yakoob Ali, said that some six months after the case was filed, an officer from the Vatara Police Station called and asked if the family had received news about Amin. “I said that it was the police that were supposed to be the ones providing the information.”²⁷

In response to the court order following the habeas corpus petition by Sumon’s family, the police filed documents relating to its investigation into Amin’s family’s FIR with the court. These stated that after Amin’s father filed a case in January 2014, a police inspector had prepared a draft map; taken statements from the petitioner, people in the surrounding area, and a witness, and had collected the victim’s mobile phone records. Police said that three investigating officers had been assigned to, and then taken off, the case. The police reports concluded by saying the investigation revealed that along with Amin, Sumon had also been abducted by “an organized criminal gang” that they were trying to identify and catch. It stated: “The case is under investigation and we are deploying modern technologies.”²⁸

Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities also said that on November 19, 2014, the investigation responsibility was transferred to the DB of the police.²⁹ In April 2016, following the March court order seeking state response to the habeas corpus petition, DB officials contacted Amin’s family and asked to get more information about the incident. Amin’s cousin said that the whole exercise was cruel and farcical: “I felt it was like a joke—him coming after three years and asking about [my cousin] like this. He said, ‘Don’t worry, you will get justice.’”

Sumon’s sister, Afroja Islam Aqi, said that she, her sisters, and her mother went to the RAB office every week for five years after her brother was disappeared. But every time RAB denied everything. “We were begging and begging but they gave nothing.”³⁰ Sumon’s mother, Hajera, says his daughters ask for him often, which she says brings her great pain. “If Sumon did any offence, then he should be brought to justice under the existing legal system,” She said.³¹

“I am broken,” Masum’s mother said. “There is nobody here to call me mother. The only thing I want is for my son to return, that is the only expectation. We won’t even talk about it. We’ll forget what happened, just bring him back. Everything is lost from my end.”³²

Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir are still missing.³³

Bokul Khan’s elder brother, Ajmal Khan, said that on the morning of February 28, 2013, a friend who was with Bokul at the time called him to say that a group of armed men claiming to be from the Detective Branch (DB) of Police had picked up Bokul when the two were waiting for a bus at Sadarghat bus terminal in Dhaka on their way home from a meeting.¹

Ajmal said he went to Dhaka and on March 4, 2013, lodged a general diary (GD) with Kotwali Police Station.² Ajmal said that some police from the Sadarghat Police Outpost testified to the Kotwali police as eyewitnesses of the incident, saying that men identifying as Detective Branch (DB) police picked Bakul up from the Sadarghat bus terminal. Ajmal then filed a kidnapping case with the Kotwali Police Station.³ Ajmal also filed a writ petition in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court.⁴ The High Court directed the home secretary, the inspector general of police, and the commissioner of police to produce Bakul. However, years later, the case is still pending in the High Court. The investigation was eventually passed from the Kotwali police to the Detective Branch. Ajmal told human rights defenders that he has lost hope now that the Detective Branch is effectively investigating itself.⁵

In 2017, Bokul was tried and convicted in-absentia in a high-profile murder case of an Awami League leader and was sentenced to life imprisonment.⁶

Bokul Khan is still missing.

On the evening of December 6, 2013, Munna and Jhontu were picked up by alleged law enforcement officers at Mollartek bazaar, near Dhaka’s international airport. Munna was the joint secretary of the Bangladesh nationalist party’s (BNP) student wing at Biman Bandar Thana in Dhaka. Jhontu was the joint secretary of the BNP student wing at Tejgaon College where he was studying. According to his family, Jhontu had three criminal cases lodged against him related to his political activities.

Between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on December 6, Jamal, a local businessman, was walking home after closing his shop when he saw his friend, Jhontu, in front of a laundry shop on the opposite side of the road. Jamal said he spoke briefly to Jhontu before heading home.¹ At about 10 p.m., Mohammad Joshimuddin, the laundry shop owner, was returning to his shop when he saw Jhontu being detained by men in plainclothes. He said:

“I saw Jhontu handcuffed and being held by one or two men. I have known Jhontu for around seven years as he is a customer. The men holding Jhontu were in plainclothes, and I am not sure whether they had any weapons. I walked past them without saying anything. I was very scared.”²

Joshimuddin said that after he entered his shop, some men arrived and searched the shop. “They were asking me whether Jhontu kept anything here or not, and they searched everywhere, but did not find anything.”³ He then saw Jhontu being bundled into a microbus parked down the road. Joshimuddin said that he did not know the contact details of Jhontu’s family, so he contacted Jamal, Jhontu’s friend who owned the shop across the street. Jamal said he informed Jhontu’s family.⁴

Nizam Uddin Munna went outside to buy medicine and vegetables at about 6:30 p.m. on the same day. Three hours later, Munna called his father, Shamsuddin, and asked him to collect the purchases from him. Shamsuddin said he witnessed his son’s arrest:

“I met Munna, who gave me a small bag of vegetables and my medicine. All the shops were closed, with only roadside lights on. Then Munna received a call on his mobile. He did not answer, and instead started walking in the direction of a white large microbus, a Mitsubishi, which was standing in front of Halima Pharmacy, which was closed. When my son walked away, I was curious and walked in the same direction to see what Munna was doing. Then I saw about five plainclothes-dressed men, carrying weapons, grab Munna and push him into the microbus. Seeing this, I ran toward the microbus and shouted, “Where are you taking my son?” One of the men replied, “There is an allegation against your son.” I asked the men, “Who are you?” One man replied that they were from RAB, but another replied they were from DB. The whole incident hardly took less than a minute. I was pushed away and the microbus moved away with the door open.”⁵

Hasina Begum, Jhontu’s mother, said that early the next morning, Jamal, after hearing about the arrest, came and told the family that it was likely that DB had Jhontu in custody.⁶ Family members then went to the laundry shop and heard what had happened the night before. Saiful Islam Mithu, Jhontu’s younger brother, went to the court assuming that Jhontu would be brought there, but he was not. ⁷ He also tried to file a police complaint:

“On December 9, after spending the whole day in court, I went to Dokinkan Police Station. I wanted to mention in a GD that DB had taken my brother but the police officer on duty did not allow this. The duty officer said, “If you want to accuse a law enforcing agency of taking your brother, then you have to specify the name of the person in the DB team member who had picked him up. Otherwise you just file a GD saying that your brother is missing.” Since I had no idea about the exact identity of the people who had taken my brother I just filed a GD, stating that my brother had gone missing.”⁸

Jhontu’s brother said he went to several police stations over the next few days but none had any information. He said he went to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) offices at least six times, but was not allowed to meet anyone.⁹

Munna’s father said he decided to go immediately to the RAB office after witnessing his son’s arrest. The guards would not let him in, but he waited outside the gates from about 10 p.m. to midnight. He said he then went to the DB office, and waited in front of the gate all night, trying to look into every vehicle that came and went. He then tried to lodge a police complaint, but was not allowed:

“I approached the local police station. The duty officer told me that the police would not allow a complaint against RAB or any law enforcing agency. I was told that if I wanted to file a GD, I would have to describe that my son went missing.”¹⁰

Eventually, on December 9, 2013, both Munna and Jhontu’s families were able to file General Diaries with Dakkhinkhan Police Station¹¹ However, the families said since then the police harassed them for having filed GDs, visiting them in their homes multiple times and admonishing them.¹²

“I urge the state, please at least inform us if my son is still alive or law enforcers have killed him. If he is dead, give his body back to us so that we can bury him,” Shamsuddin told the media in 2016.¹³ Shamsuddin has since passed away. “My husband died without finding our son,” Munna’s mother said. “Please show me my son’s grave, I will go pray for him.”¹⁴

Jhontu’s brother, Mohammad Saiful Islam Mintu, said that since Jhontu was picked up, law enforcement continued to harass his family and new cases alleging hartal-related violence were filed against Jhontu in 2017.¹⁵

Jhontu’s brother said that after the cases were filed in 2017 police would come to their home looking for Jhontu to fulfill the arrest warrant. He said they would frequently threaten their family and even served a notice that their property would be confiscated if Jhontu did not show up in court. In 2019, Jhontu’s mother, Hasina, wrote a letter to the police saying her son had disappeared in 2013 and requesting that the harassment stop. They haven’t had visits from the police since.¹⁶

Nizam Uddin Munna and Tariqul Islam Jhontu are still missing.

According to Kamal Hossain’s wife, Mosamat Sharmin, a relative called her at around 8 a.m. on March 20, 2013, and told her that the previous night people in plainclothes claiming to be members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had arrested Hossain along with Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil and Toyob Pramanik.¹

Another witness, named here “E,” said that security forces—some in plainclothes, and others in RAB uniforms— arrived at his home the night of March 19, 2013, and that E noticed that Hossain, Khalil, and Pramanik were in their custody. The officers said they were looking for E’s son. But the son was not home. E said that the men then beat him up and drove away with Khalil, Hossain, and Pramanik.

A grocery shopkeeper said that on May 19, 2013, at around 11 p.m. he was sitting at his shop when 10 to 12 men—some in plainclothes, some in RAB uniforms—pulled up in a microbus to his shop. He said that all of them were armed and they asked for pan (betel leaf) and cigarettes, and that one of the men told them not to sell anything to anyone else while they were there. As they were pulling away, the shopkeeper said he saw Pramanik, Hossain, and Khalil in the microbus heading towards Bonpara (south in the direction of Dhaka).² On May 20, 2013, Khalil’s brother, Mohammad Lokman Talukdar, filed a general diary (GD) with the Boraigram Police Station.

Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, Kamal Hossain, and Toyob Pramanik are still missing.

In the early afternoon of December 2, 2013, seven activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) student wing were socializing inside the Suhrawardy Udyan Park in central Dhaka. Five of the activists—including Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohammad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal—walked to a nearby restaurant at an intersection in central Dhaka known as Shahbagh, while the other two went to the neighboring Shishu Amusement Park to purchase tickets so that after lunch they could meet inside.¹ As the five men left the Shahbagh restaurant and walked back toward Shishu Amusement Park, four of them— Sarkar, Zahir, Hossain, and Chanchal—were picked up by law enforcement officers dressed in civilian dress and were bundled into a microbus. Two of the three remaining men witnessed the detention and asked not to be identified.

One of the men present at the restaurant, along with the other four who were disappeared, said that that the group had planned to meet at Shishu Amusement Park because they considered it safe. He said security forces caught up with them as they were leaving the restaurant:

“I was the first to leave, and I noticed as I left that there were two microbuses parked ahead of us, but I got distracted because I received a phone call. I slowed down and the others went ahead of me. As they got closer to Shishu Amusement Park they came to an area of pavement where there are boundary railings of Shishu Amusement Park on the right and on the left, another set of railings which separate the pavement from the road. As they entered this area, I suddenly heard someone shouting, “Catch them, catch them.” The men could not escape as there were these railings on both sides. As this was happening, I had not quite reached the part of the pavement [with the railings] and so I could cross the road, which is what I did. I saw my friends being grabbed and put into a microbus by men dressed in plainclothes.”²

As soon as the vehicles disappeared, the witness called his political colleagues to warn them to stay away from Shishu Amusement Park.³ One of the two men that had been waiting inside the main entrance of the park also witnessed the detention.⁴

Sarkar’s father, Mohammad Shamsul Rahman, said that he received a call from one of his son’s colleagues who witnessed his son’s detention. He said he then tried to find his son:

“After I had finished the call, another son of mine called Sohel’s phone. It was answered but there was a lot of noise and crying. I went to Shahbagh Police Station and asked whether four people had been taken, but the police denied this. I found someone who I knew at the police station, and he showed me the cells and said, “Look, he is not there.” I tried to file a GD at the station but the police did not allow me to do that. I went the following day to the DB office but they said that they were not involved and had no information.”⁵

Rahman was later able to file a GD in his local police station in Bangshal, but the police only allowed him to file a missing person complaint, and not allege that his son was taken by law enforcement officers.⁶

Sarkar’s wife, Nilufar Yasmin Shilpi, said that when she heard her husband and his colleagues had been picked up, she immediately tried calling him and someone picked up the phone. She said she could hear Sarkar crying and then the phone call dropped and was switched off. This was the last she heard her husband.⁷

Hossain’s wife, Farzeena Akhter, said her husband had about six criminal cases lodged against him, which she claimed were all false allegations for his political activities.⁸ When she and other family members went to the DB office, they were not allowed into the building. The family filed a missing person GD on December 14, 2013, at the police station.

Chanchal’s wife, Reshma Akhter, said that when her husband, who she said had no criminal cases against him, did not return as planned for a family outing, she started calling him but his phone was switched off.⁹ She finally called Anwar Hossain, Chanchal’s brother. Anwar went to the police but was told that they had not arrested anyone by that name.¹⁰ Chanchal’s relatives also went to the DB and RAB offices, but the officials denied having him in custody. They lodged a missing person GD on December 22, 2013.

Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hossain, who said that his brother had as many as 25 criminal cases of a “political” nature against him, said that the police only allowed him to file a missing person GD, which he did on December 14.¹¹

A day or two after the four men were picked up, a local businessman said he saw the four men detained at the DB office:

“On December 3, I visited the DB office at about 3 p.m. to meet a friend of mine who worked there. While I was there, I saw a man detained inside the DB office. On the following day, Sohel’s father came to meet me and said that his son and three others had been picked up by the police. Sohel’s father showed me a photograph and I recognized him as being the same person who I had seen the previous day in the DB office. I returned to the DB office a day or so later to confirm this. I made another appointment with the DB officer. I did not go directly to his office but went to an area on the ground floor, and I saw about seven detained men. Subsequently, I saw the photographs of the three other men that were picked up and they were of the same men that I had seen inside.”¹²

The businessman then discovered that Sarkar was thought to be “Chacha Sohel,” someone the authorities considered to be “notorious” in the area.

“A senior police officer told me that there are strict instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office that Chacha Sohel should not be released because of his crimes. He then told me not to get involved. I called a friend in the Detective Branch with the rank of inspector and he advised me not to call again on this matter to avoid trouble. I was frightened and stopped communication with the BNP people.”¹³

The businessman said that he also introduced the relatives of some of the families to a retired major, who said that he was willing to help intervene in the case.

“On around the 13th of December, I brought the major [name withheld] to meet Sohel’s father. The father explained what happened to his son and the three other men. The major then called one of his friends serving in DB, and it was on speakerphone and I heard what was said. One official said, “Yes, Sohel was in our custody and we kept him for observation.” But he said that Sohel was no longer in the DB office, and that he did not where he is.”¹⁴

Some of the families said that the police continue to harass them. Sarkar’s wife said that the police often come to their house and accuse them of hiding Sarkar.¹⁵ Similarly, Hossain’s wife, Farzana, said after they filed a general diary the police came to her house threatening to arrest her. She said she had to pay them 12,000 Taka (US$140) to stop them from harassing her family.¹⁶ Still, in 2019 she said the police called, pressuring her to withdraw the general diary she filed after Hossain disappeared. She said she refused saying that when Hossain returns, she will withdraw the case.¹⁷ Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hassan, said his family faced similar harassment from the police. He said there were 12-13 cases filed against Zahir with arrest warrants issued so the police came to their home seven or eight times demanding that his mother and father show where Zahir was hiding. They were even issued a notice that the court would confiscate their property if Zahir did not show up in court. Every time the officers came, they allegedly took somewhere between 1,000-5,000 Taka ($12-60). Every time they came, Kamal says they threatened the family saying “there are a lot of cases against Zahir and now you are hiding him. Bring him, otherwise we will arrest you.” Eventually they stopped in 2016 after neighbors went to the police and insisted that Zahir was missing and to stop harassing the family.

Shilpi and Sarkar’s father, Shamsur, said that they are distressed and sad after the disappearance of Sarkar and are struggling financially, especially since Sarkar was the primary income earner for the family. Since he went missing they had also exhausted their resources searching for him.¹⁸

Hossain’s wife said that when her husband was picked up, she was four-months pregnant, and her children have been growing up without their father. Her son is now seven and her daughter is 10 years old. ¹⁹

“I need to know exactly what happened to my husband. Without knowing, it’s not possible to sustain life with dignity,” she said. ²⁰

Chanchal’s mother, Bibi Hazera, said that Chanchal had been very attached to her and supported her financially. She told Odhikar how Hossain had paid for her eye operation just a few days before his disappearance. She told the human rights organization, Odhikar, that she “feels sad seeing the mental and financial hurdles that Hossain’s wife and his seven-year-old son face.”²¹ Chanchal’s wife said that she is constantly thinking of him and has left all of his belongings in place in case he returns. “I am living life without life,” she said.²²

Zahir’s mother, Hosne Ara Begum, told Odhikar “every day and night, I believe Zahir will come back to me.”²³

Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohamad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal are still missing.

Azad Md Sadequl Islam, a childhood friend of Mahabub Hasan Sujon, said he received a call on December 5. Sujon, he said, was worried about being arrested, and asked if he could stay at Azad’s farmhouse in Sonargaon with his Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) friends for a few days over the weekend.¹ Azad joined them at the farmhouse but left for Dhaka in the evening of December 7, as he had to work the following day. Later that night, one of his farmworkers called him to tell him police had taken Sujon away:

“I asked him if it was police, or DB, or RAB, but he couldn’t tell for sure. He said that men were in civilian clothes and had claimed to be police. He said when Sujon asked them to show the arrest papers, one of the policemen must have hit him, because the laborers heard Sujon cry out.”²

One of the workers who witnessed the arrest said that five or six plainclothes men knocked on their door when they were sleeping:

“They told us that they were police. We opened the door and they asked for Sujon. We told them that Sujon was not in our room. After that, they went to the room where Sujon was. Our room was then locked from the outside. They didn’t let us out. When they were leaving, they unlocked our door. We saw that Sujon was wearing pants so we assumed that he had changed from his lungi which he was wearing earlier.”³

There was one later sighting of Sujon. A businessman who lived in Fakirapool close to where Sujon and Kazi Farhad rented property said that a couple of days after the two men were taken, he saw police take Sujon back to the rented property where they had lived.

“I was having tea at a street stall. I saw of group of plainclothes men, some carrying guns, coming into the alley. Along with the men I saw Sujon, whom I knew as he had lived in the area. They took him to building no. 266 which was where Sujon used to live. All the men were in plainclothes except one man who wore a jacket with “DB” written on it. I saw that Sujon was handcuffed, and someone was holding his hand, directing him forward. The men stayed in the building for over an hour and came out with bags of material. Sujon was then taken to a white microbus that was parked in front of the Asma Hotel. I heard later that they had knocked down the door of the apartment where Sujon used to live.”⁴

Sujon’s father, Abdul Jalil Khan, said he did not like his son’s involvement in politics. He said that his son had about 14 “political” cases lodged against him in different police stations alleging involvement in violence. He first heard from Azad that Sujon had been picked up by law enforcement authorities, and then he started looking for his son. He said:

“Azad called me to say that his workers had informed him that Sujon and his colleague Farhad had been picked up by law enforcement officers. I expected that Sujon and his friends would be brought before court the next day, so my younger son went to the district court in Old Dhaka in the morning, but Sujon was not produced there.”⁵

Meanwhile, Sujon’s wife and cousin went to the DB office, but they said that they had no information. A few days later the family filed a GD. Sujon’s father said:

“They only allowed us to file a missing person GD, not one claiming him to be taken by law enforcement officers. The police said that we could file a case against the house owner [Azad] from where he was taken, but not against police or any other law enforcement agency.”⁶

Sujon’s family received information from different sources that suggested that DB was involved with the detention. His cousin Shakil said that he went to the DB office a number of times, but received no new information. One of those times was around February 2014. Shakil said:

“I met the assistant commissioner and he also denied knowledge of the incident and suggested that I should meet RAB and go and speak to Colonel Zia. He said if there is a crossfire probably RAB will know about it. He also said that if Sujon was taken by a law enforcement person, “I see very little chance that he is alive.””⁷

Farhad’s sister filed a GD at the Sabujbagh Police Station.⁸ His wife, Farhana, said that she heard via a relative who was connected to the Prime Minister’s Office that it was DB officials that had had arrested him.⁹ DB denies this.

Mahabub Hasan Sujon and Kazi Farhad are still missing.

At about 8 p.m. on December 4, 2013, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir were picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers outside a building under construction in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon was the only post-holder for the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), and according to family members, the only one with a criminal case filed against him; the others were all supporters and activists. There were two other men present at the time, but they managed to escape.

One of the two men who escaped said that the meeting had been called by Sumon. RAB officers arrived soon after:

“For 40 or 45 minutes we were chatting. We were talking about the momentum of protest. After that, four of the men left by foot, leaving four of us—Tanvir, Sumon, myself, and [name withheld] behind. Two of us then went to the other side of a cement mixing machine to have a smoke. Suddenly we saw vehicles approaching. There was more than one car, but I can’t say exactly how many. There were some men in black uniforms who came out of the vehicles. They had weapons. The cars had their lights on so I could see the men, the color of their uniform. There was one car with “RAB-1″ written on it. I am sure that it was definitely RAB because of the clothes, and because I saw RAB-1 logo on the car. I could make out that people were being taken into a vehicle and that it left.”¹

A construction worker at the site who witnessed the detention said he knew Tanvir because the family owned the property and had seen Sumon earlier. He said:

“Tanvir and Sumon were still standing there talking when the vehicles came. Four of the men [who came down from the vehicle] wore civil dress and another seven or eight were dressed in the black clothing of RAB, with a cloth around the head. All the men had guns. Sumon and Tanvir were both beaten up before they were put in the car. “Why you are arresting us, we are not these type of people,” they said at the time of being picked up.”²

Six hours later, early the following morning, a contractor said he was returning from a night shift to Shaheen Bagh, the area where Sumon’s family lives, when he saw Sumon, whom he knew well, inside a car that he thought belonged to law enforcement authorities.³

Sumon was not at that time staying at his home in Shaheen Bagh because he feared arrest, and was instead living with his cousin, Tanvir, at their apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon’s sister, Sanjida Islam, said that they first heard that Sumon had been picked up when her family in Shaheen Bagh received a call from her aunt, Tanvir’s mother:

“My aunt said that it was RAB. Within half an hour my older sister, my husband, and my mother went to the RAB office in Uttara. I was pregnant at the time so I did not go. RAB people at the gate did not allow my family members in. The men at the reception denied they were involved in the detention. My sister, father, and mother stayed outside the RAB office throughout that night, and for the next three days one family member or the other was present outside the RAB office.”⁴

At about 11 p.m., one of the two men who had escaped being picked up came to their house though the back entrance. He told the family that Sumon had been taken away in RAB vehicles. The following day, Sanjida said that family members went to file a complaint with police:

“The next day my mother and older sister went to our local police station in Tejgaon to file a GD but the police said that they had to go to the police station of the PO [place of occurrence]. They then went to Vatara Police Station but the duty officer refused to allow them to file the GD if they claimed that RAB had taken my brother. They said that they could only give a GD if they said that Sumon was missing. As we did not want to do that, we did not file a GD.”⁵

Through family connections, Sumon’s family contacted a senior RAB officer [name withheld]:

“He began to speak to my mother on the phone, and to send messages. He made her believe that Sumon was going to be released soon. He said for example one day, “He will be with you next time you say your prayers.” Many times, he said that they were going to release Sumon. But nothing happened. This went on for two months.”⁶

Family members continued go to the RAB-1 office and RAB headquarters. At the end of January, Sumon’s mother and sister were invited to the office to meet an RAB-1 officer. Sanjida said:

“He admitted that Sumon had been detained. They praised my brother, saying that Sumon is good person, had a good reputation. He said that his boss had gone to see Sumon recently, to make sure he was all right in their custody. He suggested to us that we should communicate with Ziaul Ahsan, who was in charge of operations. He gave Ahsan’s landline and mobile number to my mother. When we met Ahsan, he was very arrogant. He said, “Why are so many army officials calling about Sumon? We have told you that we don’t have him and that we are searching for him.””⁷

The family gave its first written complaint to RAB on March 18, 2014, and has since given at least 12 further complaints to RAB (most recently on August 21, 2016), and five to other government authorities, including the home ministry, police, and military intelligence. The family has also made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission and filed a habeas corpus petition in court.

In May 2016, Sanjida met again with one of the RAB officials the family had met earlier, who had been a senior RAB-1 officer at the time of her brother’s disappearance, but had since left. He confirmed in a private meeting at a restaurant that RAB-1 had conducted the operation to pick up Sumon. He said that the six men had been in his custody and that he received an order to kill them, but he refused.⁸

According to Sanjida, the official said that RAB’s counterterrorism branch—under the command of Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, who subsequently became head of RAB’s intelligence wing—took the men from his custody. The official assumed they had been killed.⁹ In August 2016, Sanjida met with Azad, but he denied any involvement and, according to Sanjida, said: “We are searching. I will try to let you know whether he is alive or anywhere else.”

Russel’s sister, Nusrat Jahan Laboni, said she waited all night for her brother to come home, and in the morning discovered that his friends were missing as well.¹⁰ Family members approached RAB, DB, and various police stations several times but no one had any information about the detentions.¹¹

Amin’s father filed a missing person GD at Badda Police Station that covered the area where they lived.¹² The family also managed to file a First Information Report on January 26, 2014.¹³ Amin’s cousin, Yakoob, went to the construction site and the workers recognized his photograph, confirming that Amin was detained by RAB-1:

“I asked the workers how they knew that it was specifically RAB-1. They said that the security guards who work in that area are a little educated. After Al Amin Bhai and his friends were taken away by RAB, the workers went running toward the security guards, and the security guards told them that the vehicles had “RAB-1″ written on them.”¹⁴

Yakoob also went to the RAB office, where officials asked questions about witnesses to the abductions:

“The RAB officer asked me if I had any record or proof with me about the complaint. I replied to them that I had a recording of the statement that the workers and the caretaker gave. I showed the officer the recording. He took a record of the recording. Then I left the office and came back home. Afterward, I again contacted the officer to ask them if he has found anything about them yet. The officer replied that he will call us when it will be time. I called him three more times, but he couldn’t tell me anything else.”¹⁵

Masum’s mother, Ayesha Ali, said the family went to a number of police stations: “They said that no one had been arrested. On December 6, we went to file a GD in Tejgaon industrial area, but they only accepted a GD if we said that he was missing.”¹⁶

Rana’s sister, Meenara Begum, said that she too went to the police and RAB offices after she heard of the detention. They also filed a police complaint reporting that Rana was missing.¹⁷

Tanvir and Sumon are cousins. Tanvir’s mother, Nilifur Rana, also said that she went with her relatives to meet with RAB and DB officers, but everyone denied the detention.¹⁸

A year after the detentions, in December 2014, Sumon’s family made a formal complaint to the National Human Rights Commission. On December 17, the then chair of the NHRC wrote to the most senior civil servant of the home ministry setting out the allegation and “appealing to the government to take necessary action to bring back the son of Hazera Khatun and the others to the parents,” and to inform NHRC what action the ministry had taken by January 15, 2015.¹⁹

The ministry did not respond to this letter or to six other monthly reminders that the NHRC sent. However, on August 28, 2015, the ministry finally replied, stating that Sumon’s father had filed a case with the Vatara Police Station on January 26, 2014, and that the case was under investigation.²⁰ In a letter dated November 15, 2015, Sumon’s mother wrote that they had never filed a case of this kind because when they had gone to do so “the police refused to take the case.”²¹

The NHRC then wrote to the ministry stating that the police report did not contain any specific step as to “how you are trying to get the victims back,” and asked for a detailed report by December 20, 2015. On January 14, 2016, police sent a letter to Sumon’s mother asking her to come to the police station. This meeting never took place. Instead, Sumon’s family sent a note to the police setting out the details of Sumon’s disappearance.

In March 2016, Sumon’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court.²² She said that her son was illegally detained by RAB. The petition said that authorities had shown no inclination to investigate the incident, and that the court should order government authorities to produce him before the court.

On March 10, 2016, the court passed a rule nisi calling upon the Bangladesh government and various policing bodies to “show cause as to why the arrest/abduction/causing disappearance of the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon … should not be declared to be illegal and without lawful jurisdiction,” and pass such orders as the court considers necessary.²³

Following this order, the inspector general of police responded in an affidavit, “It was learnt from the respective units that neither Rapid Action Battalion nor any other unit of Bangladesh Police arrested said Sajedul Islam Sumon.”²⁴ RAB also filed an affidavit with the court stating, “RAB-1 did not pick up or arrest the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon and others,” and that “we are trying to find out the victims.”²⁵

There had been no further court hearing at time of writing, since the High Court passed its order.

Amin’s family was the only one to file a FIR involving the abduction.²⁶ His nephew, Yakoob Ali, said that some six months after the case was filed, an officer from the Vatara Police Station called and asked if the family had received news about Amin. “I said that it was the police that were supposed to be the ones providing the information.”²⁷

In response to the court order following the habeas corpus petition by Sumon’s family, the police filed documents relating to its investigation into Amin’s family’s FIR with the court. These stated that after Amin’s father filed a case in January 2014, a police inspector had prepared a draft map; taken statements from the petitioner, people in the surrounding area, and a witness, and had collected the victim’s mobile phone records. Police said that three investigating officers had been assigned to, and then taken off, the case. The police reports concluded by saying the investigation revealed that along with Amin, Sumon had also been abducted by “an organized criminal gang” that they were trying to identify and catch. It stated: “The case is under investigation and we are deploying modern technologies.”²⁸

Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities also said that on November 19, 2014, the investigation responsibility was transferred to the DB of the police.²⁹ In April 2016, following the March court order seeking state response to the habeas corpus petition, DB officials contacted Amin’s family and asked to get more information about the incident. Amin’s cousin said that the whole exercise was cruel and farcical: “I felt it was like a joke—him coming after three years and asking about [my cousin] like this. He said, ‘Don’t worry, you will get justice.’”

Sumon’s sister, Afroja Islam Aqi, said that she, her sisters, and her mother went to the RAB office every week for five years after her brother was disappeared. But every time RAB denied everything. “We were begging and begging but they gave nothing.”³⁰ Sumon’s mother, Hajera, says his daughters ask for him often, which she says brings her great pain. “If Sumon did any offence, then he should be brought to justice under the existing legal system,” She said.³¹

“I am broken,” Masum’s mother said. “There is nobody here to call me mother. The only thing I want is for my son to return, that is the only expectation. We won’t even talk about it. We’ll forget what happened, just bring him back. Everything is lost from my end.”³²

Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir are still missing.³³

Firoz and Miraz Khan’s mother, Firoza Begum said that Miraz’s friends, who were with him at the time, told her that on April 3, 2012, Miraz and two friends were leaving dinner in Mirpur, Dhaka, when, as soon as they stepped outside of the restaurant, a microbus drove up and a group of men grabbed Miraz and his friends. Miraz’s friends told Firoza that the men in the microbus said that they were from law enforcement.

According to Firoza, the men eventually let Miraz’s friends go, but drove away with Miraz. Firoza said the friends called her to tell her what had happened and her family quickly traveled to Dhaka and went to various law enforcement agencies inquiring about Miraz’s whereabouts. She said she also went to the restaurant and one of the employees confirmed that a group of men had pulled up in a microbus and grabbed the three youths from the front of the restaurant. Firoza said that a traffic police officer who was there at the time also confirmed the same thing. The family then filed a general diary (GD) at the Mirpur Police Station.¹

Firoz Khan’s wife, Brishty Khan, said that the family was afraid after Miraz’s disappearance and so they moved to Chittagong.

However, on August 24, 2012, she said that a relative who was with him at the time told her that when they were leaving the mosque in Wapda colony in Chittagong after the evening prayers, a group of men in plainclothes drove up in a microbus and picked up Firoz.² She said the relative later told her that the microbus had a sticker with “DB” (Detective Branch) written on it. Khan said she went to Halishahar Police Station, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and DB offices. She said that when she went to the Halishahar Police Station, an officer told her that he had actually seen the incident and that whoever was in charge of the operation appeared to be law enforcement agencies but acknowledged that Firoz was never shown arrested. Khan filed a complaint with the RAB-7 unit at Patenga³ and the next day filed a general diary (GD) with Dobolmuring Police Station.⁴

Firoza told the media that she believes that law enforcement killed her sons.⁵

Firoz and Miraz Khan are still missing.

Ilias Ali’s son, Abrar Ilias, said that a man selling coconuts, a tea stall owner, and the guard at a construction site told them that on the night of April 17, 2012, they saw a microbus hit Ali’s car and then pull Ali and Ansar into the microbus and drive away.¹

After the two men went missing, Ali’s car was found, abandoned with all the doors open, near his home in the Banani neighborhood of Dhaka.² There were at least 13 cases brought against Ali since the ruling Awami League came into power in 2009. According to a 2019 report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), before his disappearance, a member of the Special Security Force (SSF), claimed that Ilias Ali was “on the list of names against whom the government was making plans.”³ After he went missing, a member of the SSF again ominously confirmed that “the government has some plan regarding Ilias Ali.”⁴ Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters, including opposition leader Khaleda Zia, have expressed their belief that Ali and Ansar were forcibly disappeared by security forces and engaged in nationwide strikes over the case.⁵

Ali’s wife, Tahsina Rushdir, lodged a general diary (GD) with the Banani Police Station on April 18, 2012. According to Ali’s relatives, the police refused to file a case beyond the GD, however, due to “orders from above.”⁶ Later, Ali’s family filed a writ petition with the High Court and the High Court issued a rule calling on respondents to show cause as to why Ali had not been brought to court and that they must reply within 10 days. The High Court ordered police to submit weekly reports updating the court on the status of the case. Although the police initially complied with the order, the reports did not provide any substantial information and they stopped reporting after six months.⁷ In April 2018, Ali’s wife, Tahsina, told the media that law enforcement had only contacted her for the first four or five months after her husband had disappeared, but “after that, no one from law enforcement agencies communicated with us or informed us about the progress.”⁸

Forman Ali, an officer in charge of Banani Police Station where the GD was lodged in May 2012, told the media in 2018: “We are investigating [the incident] to find out Ilias based on the general diary filed in this connection. But there is no specific progress as of now.”⁹

Since Ali’s disappearance, his family has faced harassment from law enforcement who come to their home.¹⁰

Ali’s wife told the media: “The government or the law enforcement agencies might have thought that we have forgotten him as years have passed. But the memory of Ilias Ali haunts me and my children every night.”¹¹

Ilias Ali and Mohammad Ansar are still missing.

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Raja’s mother, Lipi Akter, said that on April 25, 2013, her son went with his friends to visit Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka, but he didn’t return. About 20 days later she heard from three of Raja’s friends—named here “A,” “B,” and “C”. A told her that on April 26, 2013, when they were returning home from Lalbagh fort, a few men in plainclothes had approached them, introduced themselves as members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police, and said they were arresting them as the accused in a murder case. The men then forced them into a white microbus and blindfolded them. A said that after a few minutes riding in the microbus, the men took them out and locked them in a “cage.” He said they were still blindfolded but could hear music outside.¹ B said that there had been other people detained there and that the officers tortured them and threatened them not to tell anyone.²

After her son had failed to return, Akter had called his friend, Roni Chowdhury, and asked him to meet her near his house. But the next day, he also disappeared. Chowdhury’s mother, Anjuman Ara, said that at around 9 a.m. on April 26, 2013, Chowdhury received a call, she thought from his friend Rafiqul, and left the house. At around 2 p.m., Chowdhury’s father Mozammel Hossain called Chowdhury’s mobile phone but found it switched off. They began searching everywhere for their son and heard from neighbors that their son had been taken away in a white microbus in front of the Al Islam Hotel, near their house in Keraniganj.³

A day after he was picked up, A said that while he was blindfolded in the cage, he thought he heard their friend Chowdhury. When he asked if it was him he said Chowdhury replied saying it was.

On June 13, 2013, Chowdhury’s mother, filed a general diary (GD) with South Keraniganj Police Station.⁴ On July 14, 2013, they submitted petitions to the inspector general of police, the Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner, the home ministry, the commander of RAB-10, and the national human rights commission.

A few months later, Raja’s and Chowdhury’s families arranged a press conference demanding their sons back. On October 4, 2013, the Lalbagh Assistant Police Commissioner’s Office sent a letter to the officer in charge of South Keraniganj Police Station to bring Akter, Ara, and two of the friends who had allegedly been detained with Raja and Chowdhury to Chawkbazar Police Station on October 13, 2013, but the friends did not go out of fear.⁵

In July 2020, Raja’s mother said she wanted to share the information about her son’s disappearance with the world so that she could get her son back. She said if he was dead, she “at least wants her son’s body so that she can do the proper rituals and pray.”⁶ Chowdhury’s mother said that she is suffering from mental trauma, cannot sleep well, and always feels anxious.⁷

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Raja and Roni Chowdhury are still missing.

In the early afternoon of December 2, 2013, seven activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) student wing were socializing inside the Suhrawardy Udyan Park in central Dhaka. Five of the activists—including Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohammad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal—walked to a nearby restaurant at an intersection in central Dhaka known as Shahbagh, while the other two went to the neighboring Shishu Amusement Park to purchase tickets so that after lunch they could meet inside.1 As the five men left the Shahbagh restaurant and walked back toward Shishu Amusement Park, four of them— Sarkar, Zahir, Hossain, and Chanchal—were picked up by law enforcement officers dressed in civilian dress and were bundled into a microbus. Two of the three remaining men witnessed the detention and asked not to be identified.

One of the men present at the restaurant, along with the other four who were disappeared, said that that the group had planned to meet at Shishu Amusement Park because they considered it safe. He said security forces caught up with them as they were leaving the restaurant:

“I was the first to leave, and I noticed as I left that there were two microbuses parked ahead of us, but I got distracted because I received a phone call. I slowed down and the others went ahead of me. As they got closer to Shishu Amusement Park they came to an area of pavement where there are boundary railings of Shishu Amusement Park on the right and on the left, another set of railings which separate the pavement from the road. As they entered this area, I suddenly heard someone shouting, “Catch them, catch them.” The men could not escape as there were these railings on both sides. As this was happening, I had not quite reached the part of the pavement [with the railings] and so I could cross the road, which is what I did. I saw my friends being grabbed and put into a microbus by men dressed in plainclothes.”2

As soon as the vehicles disappeared, the witness called his political colleagues to warn them to stay away from Shishu Amusement Park.3 One of the two men that had been waiting inside the main entrance of the park also witnessed the detention.4

Sarkar’s father, Mohammad Shamsul Rahman, said that he received a call from one of his son’s colleagues who witnessed his son’s detention. He said he then tried to find his son:

“After I had finished the call, another son of mine called Sohel’s phone. It was answered but there was a lot of noise and crying. I went to Shahbagh Police Station and asked whether four people had been taken, but the police denied this. I found someone who I knew at the police station, and he showed me the cells and said, “Look, he is not there.” I tried to file a GD at the station but the police did not allow me to do that. I went the following day to the DB office but they said that they were not involved and had no information.”5

Rahman was later able to file a GD in his local police station in Bangshal, but the police only allowed him to file a missing person complaint, and not allege that his son was taken by law enforcement officers.6

Sarkar’s wife, Nilufar Yasmin Shilpi, said that when she heard her husband and his colleagues had been picked up, she immediately tried calling him and someone picked up the phone. She said she could hear Sarkar crying and then the phone call dropped and was switched off. This was the last she heard her husband.7

Hossain’s wife, Farzeena Akhter, said her husband had about six criminal cases lodged against him, which she claimed were all false allegations for his political activities.8 When she and other family members went to the DB office, they were not allowed into the building. The family filed a missing person GD on December 14, 2013, at the police station.

Chanchal’s wife, Reshma Akhter, said that when her husband, who she said had no criminal cases against him, did not return as planned for a family outing, she started calling him but his phone was switched off.9 She finally called Anwar Hossain, Chanchal’s brother. Anwar went to the police but was told that they had not arrested anyone by that name.10 Chanchal’s relatives also went to the DB and RAB offices, but the officials denied having him in custody. They lodged a missing person GD on December 22, 2013.

Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hossain, who said that his brother had as many as 25 criminal cases of a “political” nature against him, said that the police only allowed him to file a missing person GD, which he did on December 14.11

A day or two after the four men were picked up, a local businessman said he saw the four men detained at the DB office:

“On December 3, I visited the DB office at about 3 p.m. to meet a friend of mine who worked there. While I was there, I saw a man detained inside the DB office. On the following day, Sohel’s father came to meet me and said that his son and three others had been picked up by the police. Sohel’s father showed me a photograph and I recognized him as being the same person who I had seen the previous day in the DB office. I returned to the DB office a day or so later to confirm this. I made another appointment with the DB officer. I did not go directly to his office but went to an area on the ground floor, and I saw about seven detained men. Subsequently, I saw the photographs of the three other men that were picked up and they were of the same men that I had seen inside.”12

The businessman then discovered that Sarkar was thought to be “Chacha Sohel,” someone the authorities considered to be “notorious” in the area.

“A senior police officer told me that there are strict instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office that Chacha Sohel should not be released because of his crimes. He then told me not to get involved. I called a friend in the Detective Branch with the rank of inspector and he advised me not to call again on this matter to avoid trouble. I was frightened and stopped communication with the BNP people.”13

The businessman said that he also introduced the relatives of some of the families to a retired major, who said that he was willing to help intervene in the case.

“On around the 13th of December, I brought the major [name withheld] to meet Sohel’s father. The father explained what happened to his son and the three other men. The major then called one of his friends serving in DB, and it was on speakerphone and I heard what was said. One official said, “Yes, Sohel was in our custody and we kept him for observation.” But he said that Sohel was no longer in the DB office, and that he did not where he is.”14

Some of the families said that the police continue to harass them. Sarkar’s wife said that the police often come to their house and accuse them of hiding Sarkar.15 Similarly, Hossain’s wife, Farzana, said after they filed a general diary the police came to her house threatening to arrest her. She said she had to pay them 12,000 Taka (US$140) to stop them from harassing her family.16 Still, in 2019 she said the police called, pressuring her to withdraw the general diary she filed after Hossain disappeared. She said she refused saying that when Hossain returns, she will withdraw the case.17 Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hassan, said his family faced similar harassment from the police. He said there were 12-13 cases filed against Zahir with arrest warrants issued so the police came to their home seven or eight times demanding that his mother and father show where Zahir was hiding. They were even issued a notice that the court would confiscate their property if Zahir did not show up in court. Every time the officers came, they allegedly took somewhere between 1,000-5,000 Taka ($12-60). Every time they came, Kamal says they threatened the family saying “there are a lot of cases against Zahir and now you are hiding him. Bring him, otherwise we will arrest you.” Eventually they stopped in 2016 after neighbors went to the police and insisted that Zahir was missing and to stop harassing the family.

Shilpi and Sarkar’s father, Shamsur, said that they are distressed and sad after the disappearance of Sarkar and are struggling financially, especially since Sarkar was the primary income earner for the family. Since he went missing they had also exhausted their resources searching for him.18

Hossain’s wife said that when her husband was picked up, she was four-months pregnant, and her children have been growing up without their father. Her son is now seven and her daughter is 10 years old. “I need to know exactly what happened to my husband. Without knowing, it’s not possible to sustain life with dignity,” she said.

Chanchal’s mother, Bibi Hazera, said that Chanchal had been very attached to her and supported her financially. She told Odhikar how Hossain had paid for her eye operation just a few days before his disappearance. She told the human rights organization, Odhikar, that she “feels sad seeing the mental and financial hurdles that Hossain’s wife and his seven-year-old son face.”19 Chanchal’s wife said that she is constantly thinking of him and has left all of his belongings in place in case he returns. “I am living life without life,” she said.20

Zahir’s mother, Hosne Ara Begum, told Odhikar “every day and night, I believe Zahir will come back to me.”21

Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohamad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal are still missing.

Al Mukkaddas’ uncle, Mohammad Abdul Hai, said that Al Mukaddas and Mohammad Wali Ullah had been staying in Dhaka at their friend’s home and were meant to return in the evening of February 4, 2012, but did not turn up. Hai said that on February 6, 2012, at around 3 p.m., Al Mukaddas’ younger sister called him to say that she was worried because Al Mukaddas’ cell phone was switched off and that he wasn’t at university or at home.

Hai went to the Paltan Police Station to file a general diary (GD) and called Al Mukaddas’ friends to see if they knew where he was. Al Mukaddas’ friend told him that he had talked to Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah the evening of February 4 and they had told him that they were taking the Hanif Enterprise Bus departing from Kolyanpur for Kushtia at 11:30 p.m.¹ Hai then went to Darus Salam Police Station to file another GD where he met Wali Ullah’s brother, Khalid Saif Ullah. Saif Ullah said that at around 3 p.m. on February 5, 2012, one of Wali Ullah’s classmates from the Islamic University called to tell him that Wali Ullah’s phone was switched off and that he had not returned from Dhaka. Both Saif Ullah and Hai lodged a GD at the Darus Salam Police Station.²

The two men then went to the Hanif Enterprise Bus counter where the bus supervisor told them that indeed Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah had boarded bus number 3750 at 11:30 p.m. from Kolyanpur bus stand heading to Kushtia. However, when the bus reached Nobinagar, Savar, sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m., when the bus was stopped in traffic, a white microbus arrived and seven or eight men got out, wearing what he believed were Detective Branch (DB) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) uniforms. Some of the men boarded the bus and forced Wali Ullah and Al Mukaddas out of their seats.³ The bus supervisor said he asked where they were taking his passengers and that one of the men in DB uniform replied that there were charges filed against the two and that they would be released after interrogation.⁴

Hai and Saif Ullah then went to the Ashulia Police Station and filed another GD, then went to the RAB-4 office to inquire about their family members’ whereabouts. Hai said that the duty officer at RAB-4 told them to go to Nobinagar Camp, but when they reached Nobinagar Camp, the RAB officer there told them that nobody had been arrested on February 4.

On February 10, 2012, Hai held a press conference demanding that Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah be returned. On February 12, 2012, he filed a habeas corpus writ petition in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. ⁵ The High Court ordered that the Secretary of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Inspector General of Police, Director General of RAB, and the Deputy Commissioner of the DB produce both men in the court within three weeks or give an explanation. Despite court orders, there has been no progress on the case.

Al Mukaddas and Mohammad Wali Ullah are still missing.

At about 8 p.m. on December 4, 2013, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir were picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers outside a building under construction in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon was the only post-holder for the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), and according to family members, the only one with a criminal case filed against him; the others were all supporters and activists. There were two other men present at the time, but they managed to escape.

One of the two men who escaped said that the meeting had been called by Sumon. RAB officers arrived soon after:

“For 40 or 45 minutes we were chatting. We were talking about the momentum of protest. After that, four of the men left by foot, leaving four of us—Tanvir, Sumon, myself, and [name withheld] behind. Two of us then went to the other side of a cement mixing machine to have a smoke. Suddenly we saw vehicles approaching. There was more than one car, but I can’t say exactly how many. There were some men in black uniforms who came out of the vehicles. They had weapons. The cars had their lights on so I could see the men, the color of their uniform. There was one car with “RAB-1″ written on it. I am sure that it was definitely RAB because of the clothes, and because I saw RAB-1 logo on the car. I could make out that people were being taken into a vehicle and that it left.”¹

A construction worker at the site who witnessed the detention said he knew Tanvir because the family owned the property and had seen Sumon earlier. He said:

“Tanvir and Sumon were still standing there talking when the vehicles came. Four of the men [who came down from the vehicle] wore civil dress and another seven or eight were dressed in the black clothing of RAB, with a cloth around the head. All the men had guns. Sumon and Tanvir were both beaten up before they were put in the car. “Why you are arresting us, we are not these type of people,” they said at the time of being picked up.”²

Six hours later, early the following morning, a contractor said he was returning from a night shift to Shaheen Bagh, the area where Sumon’s family lives, when he saw Sumon, whom he knew well, inside a car that he thought belonged to law enforcement authorities.³

Sumon was not at that time staying at his home in Shaheen Bagh because he feared arrest, and was instead living with his cousin, Tanvir, at their apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area. Sumon’s sister, Sanjida Islam, said that they first heard that Sumon had been picked up when her family in Shaheen Bagh received a call from her aunt, Tanvir’s mother:

“My aunt said that it was RAB. Within half an hour my older sister, my husband, and my mother went to the RAB office in Uttara. I was pregnant at the time so I did not go. RAB people at the gate did not allow my family members in. The men at the reception denied they were involved in the detention. My sister, father, and mother stayed outside the RAB office throughout that night, and for the next three days one family member or the other was present outside the RAB office.”⁴

At about 11 p.m., one of the two men who had escaped being picked up came to their house though the back entrance. He told the family that Sumon had been taken away in RAB vehicles. The following day, Sanjida said that family members went to file a complaint with police:

“The next day my mother and older sister went to our local police station in Tejgaon to file a GD but the police said that they had to go to the police station of the PO [place of occurrence]. They then went to Vatara Police Station but the duty officer refused to allow them to file the GD if they claimed that RAB had taken my brother. They said that they could only give a GD if they said that Sumon was missing. As we did not want to do that, we did not file a GD.”⁵

Through family connections, Sumon’s family contacted a senior RAB officer [name withheld]:

“He began to speak to my mother on the phone, and to send messages. He made her believe that Sumon was going to be released soon. He said for example one day, “He will be with you next time you say your prayers.” Many times, he said that they were going to release Sumon. But nothing happened. This went on for two months.”⁶

Family members continued go to the RAB-1 office and RAB headquarters. At the end of January, Sumon’s mother and sister were invited to the office to meet an RAB-1 officer. Sanjida said:

“He admitted that Sumon had been detained. They praised my brother, saying that Sumon is good person, had a good reputation. He said that his boss had gone to see Sumon recently, to make sure he was all right in their custody. He suggested to us that we should communicate with Ziaul Ahsan, who was in charge of operations. He gave Ahsan’s landline and mobile number to my mother. When we met Ahsan, he was very arrogant. He said, “Why are so many army officials calling about Sumon? We have told you that we don’t have him and that we are searching for him.””⁷

The family gave its first written complaint to RAB on March 18, 2014, and has since given at least 12 further complaints to RAB (most recently on August 21, 2016), and five to other government authorities, including the home ministry, police, and military intelligence. The family has also made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission and filed a habeas corpus petition in court.

In May 2016, Sanjida met again with one of the RAB officials the family had met earlier, who had been a senior RAB-1 officer at the time of her brother’s disappearance, but had since left. He confirmed in a private meeting at a restaurant that RAB-1 had conducted the operation to pick up Sumon. He said that the six men had been in his custody and that he received an order to kill them, but he refused.⁸

According to Sanjida, the official said that RAB’s counterterrorism branch—under the command of Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, who subsequently became head of RAB’s intelligence wing—took the men from his custody. The official assumed they had been killed.⁹ In August 2016, Sanjida met with Azad, but he denied any involvement and, according to Sanjida, said: “We are searching. I will try to let you know whether he is alive or anywhere else.”

Russel’s sister, Nusrat Jahan Laboni, said she waited all night for her brother to come home, and in the morning discovered that his friends were missing as well.¹⁰ Family members approached RAB, DB, and various police stations several times but no one had any information about the detentions.¹¹

Amin’s father filed a missing person GD at Badda Police Station that covered the area where they lived.¹² The family also managed to file a First Information Report on January 26, 2014.¹³ Amin’s cousin, Yakoob, went to the construction site and the workers recognized his photograph, confirming that Amin was detained by RAB-1:

“I asked the workers how they knew that it was specifically RAB-1. They said that the security guards who work in that area are a little educated. After Al Amin Bhai and his friends were taken away by RAB, the workers went running toward the security guards, and the security guards told them that the vehicles had “RAB-1″ written on them.”¹⁴

Yakoob also went to the RAB office, where officials asked questions about witnesses to the abductions:

“The RAB officer asked me if I had any record or proof with me about the complaint. I replied to them that I had a recording of the statement that the workers and the caretaker gave. I showed the officer the recording. He took a record of the recording. Then I left the office and came back home. Afterward, I again contacted the officer to ask them if he has found anything about them yet. The officer replied that he will call us when it will be time. I called him three more times, but he couldn’t tell me anything else.”¹⁵

Masum’s mother, Ayesha Ali, said the family went to a number of police stations: “They said that no one had been arrested. On December 6, we went to file a GD in Tejgaon industrial area, but they only accepted a GD if we said that he was missing.”¹⁶

Rana’s sister, Meenara Begum, said that she too went to the police and RAB offices after she heard of the detention. They also filed a police complaint reporting that Rana was missing.¹⁷

Tanvir and Sumon are cousins. Tanvir’s mother, Nilifur Rana, also said that she went with her relatives to meet with RAB and DB officers, but everyone denied the detention.¹⁸

A year after the detentions, in December 2014, Sumon’s family made a formal complaint to the National Human Rights Commission. On December 17, the then chair of the NHRC wrote to the most senior civil servant of the home ministry setting out the allegation and “appealing to the government to take necessary action to bring back the son of Hazera Khatun and the others to the parents,” and to inform NHRC what action the ministry had taken by January 15, 2015.¹⁹

The ministry did not respond to this letter or to six other monthly reminders that the NHRC sent. However, on August 28, 2015, the ministry finally replied, stating that Sumon’s father had filed a case with the Vatara Police Station on January 26, 2014, and that the case was under investigation.²⁰ In a letter dated November 15, 2015, Sumon’s mother wrote that they had never filed a case of this kind because when they had gone to do so “the police refused to take the case.”²¹

The NHRC then wrote to the ministry stating that the police report did not contain any specific step as to “how you are trying to get the victims back,” and asked for a detailed report by December 20, 2015. On January 14, 2016, police sent a letter to Sumon’s mother asking her to come to the police station. This meeting never took place. Instead, Sumon’s family sent a note to the police setting out the details of Sumon’s disappearance.

In March 2016, Sumon’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court.²² She said that her son was illegally detained by RAB. The petition said that authorities had shown no inclination to investigate the incident, and that the court should order government authorities to produce him before the court.

On March 10, 2016, the court passed a rule nisi calling upon the Bangladesh government and various policing bodies to “show cause as to why the arrest/abduction/causing disappearance of the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon … should not be declared to be illegal and without lawful jurisdiction,” and pass such orders as the court considers necessary.²³

Following this order, the inspector general of police responded in an affidavit, “It was learnt from the respective units that neither Rapid Action Battalion nor any other unit of Bangladesh Police arrested said Sajedul Islam Sumon.”²⁴ RAB also filed an affidavit with the court stating, “RAB-1 did not pick up or arrest the petitioner’s son Sajedul Islam Sumon and others,” and that “we are trying to find out the victims.”²⁵

There had been no further court hearing at time of writing, since the High Court passed its order.

Amin’s family was the only one to file a FIR involving the abduction.²⁶ His nephew, Yakoob Ali, said that some six months after the case was filed, an officer from the Vatara Police Station called and asked if the family had received news about Amin. “I said that it was the police that were supposed to be the ones providing the information.”²⁷

In response to the court order following the habeas corpus petition by Sumon’s family, the police filed documents relating to its investigation into Amin’s family’s FIR with the court. These stated that after Amin’s father filed a case in January 2014, a police inspector had prepared a draft map; taken statements from the petitioner, people in the surrounding area, and a witness, and had collected the victim’s mobile phone records. Police said that three investigating officers had been assigned to, and then taken off, the case. The police reports concluded by saying the investigation revealed that along with Amin, Sumon had also been abducted by “an organized criminal gang” that they were trying to identify and catch. It stated: “The case is under investigation and we are deploying modern technologies.”²⁸

Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities also said that on November 19, 2014, the investigation responsibility was transferred to the DB of the police.²⁹ In April 2016, following the March court order seeking state response to the habeas corpus petition, DB officials contacted Amin’s family and asked to get more information about the incident. Amin’s cousin said that the whole exercise was cruel and farcical: “I felt it was like a joke—him coming after three years and asking about [my cousin] like this. He said, ‘Don’t worry, you will get justice.’”

Sumon’s sister, Afroja Islam Aqi, said that she, her sisters, and her mother went to the RAB office every week for five years after her brother was disappeared. But every time RAB denied everything. “We were begging and begging but they gave nothing.”³⁰ Sumon’s mother, Hajera, says his daughters ask for him often, which she says brings her great pain. “If Sumon did any offence, then he should be brought to justice under the existing legal system,” She said.³¹

“I am broken,” Masum’s mother said. “There is nobody here to call me mother. The only thing I want is for my son to return, that is the only expectation. We won’t even talk about it. We’ll forget what happened, just bring him back. Everything is lost from my end.”³²

Sajedul Islam Sumon, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, Asaduzzaman Rana, and Zahidul Islam Tanvir are still missing.³³

Azad Md Sadequl Islam, a childhood friend of Mahabub Hasan Sujon, said he received a call on December 5. Sujon, he said, was worried about being arrested, and asked if he could stay at Azad’s farmhouse in Sonargaon with his Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) friends for a few days over the weekend.¹ Azad joined them at the farmhouse but left for Dhaka in the evening of December 7, as he had to work the following day. Later that night, one of his farmworkers called him to tell him police had taken Sujon away:

“I asked him if it was police, or DB, or RAB, but he couldn’t tell for sure. He said that men were in civilian clothes and had claimed to be police. He said when Sujon asked them to show the arrest papers, one of the policemen must have hit him, because the laborers heard Sujon cry out.”²

One of the workers who witnessed the arrest said that five or six plainclothes men knocked on their door when they were sleeping:

“They told us that they were police. We opened the door and they asked for Sujon. We told them that Sujon was not in our room. After that, they went to the room where Sujon was. Our room was then locked from the outside. They didn’t let us out. When they were leaving, they unlocked our door. We saw that Sujon was wearing pants so we assumed that he had changed from his lungi which he was wearing earlier.”³

There was one later sighting of Sujon. A businessman who lived in Fakirapool close to where Sujon and Kazi Farhad rented property said that a couple of days after the two men were taken, he saw police take Sujon back to the rented property where they had lived.

“I was having tea at a street stall. I saw of group of plainclothes men, some carrying guns, coming into the alley. Along with the men I saw Sujon, whom I knew as he had lived in the area. They took him to building no. 266 which was where Sujon used to live. All the men were in plainclothes except one man who wore a jacket with “DB” written on it. I saw that Sujon was handcuffed, and someone was holding his hand, directing him forward. The men stayed in the building for over an hour and came out with bags of material. Sujon was then taken to a white microbus that was parked in front of the Asma Hotel. I heard later that they had knocked down the door of the apartment where Sujon used to live.”⁴

Sujon’s father, Abdul Jalil Khan, said he did not like his son’s involvement in politics. He said that his son had about 14 “political” cases lodged against him in different police stations alleging involvement in violence. He first heard from Azad that Sujon had been picked up by law enforcement authorities, and then he started looking for his son. He said:

“Azad called me to say that his workers had informed him that Sujon and his colleague Farhad had been picked up by law enforcement officers. I expected that Sujon and his friends would be brought before court the next day, so my younger son went to the district court in Old Dhaka in the morning, but Sujon was not produced there.”⁵

Meanwhile, Sujon’s wife and cousin went to the DB office, but they said that they had no information. A few days later the family filed a GD. Sujon’s father said:

“They only allowed us to file a missing person GD, not one claiming him to be taken by law enforcement officers. The police said that we could file a case against the house owner [Azad] from where he was taken, but not against police or any other law enforcement agency.”⁶

Sujon’s family received information from different sources that suggested that DB was involved with the detention. His cousin Shakil said that he went to the DB office a number of times, but received no new information. One of those times was around February 2014. Shakil said:

“I met the assistant commissioner and he also denied knowledge of the incident and suggested that I should meet RAB and go and speak to Colonel Zia. He said if there is a crossfire probably RAB will know about it. He also said that if Sujon was taken by a law enforcement person, “I see very little chance that he is alive.””⁷

Farhad’s sister filed a GD at the Sabujbagh Police Station.⁸ His wife, Farhana, said that she heard via a relative who was connected to the Prime Minister’s Office that it was DB officials that had had arrested him.⁹ DB denies this.

Mahabub Hasan Sujon and Kazi Farhad are still missing.

The owner of an auto shop said that on May 11, 2013, at around 6:40 p.m. Mohammad Fokhrul Islam was at his auto shop in Shegun Bagicha, waiting for the wipers to be fixed on his car when two vehicles, a pickup truck and a jeep, pulled up. The owner says he saw about six-armed Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers get out of a pickup truck and go to some of the nearby shops. A few minutes later, four RAB officers came to his garage and asked Islam his name. When Islam answered, two of the officers grabbed him by his waist belt and started dragging him to the jeep.

Just as he was being taken, the evening prayer began from the nearby mosque, Masjid-e-Noor, and people came out to head to the mosque. When they saw Islam being pulled down the street, a crowd gathered, but the RAB officers blew their whistles and chased them away. The auto shop owner went closer, he said, in case Islam might give him his mobile or say something to him. Closer in, he could see two RAB officers sitting inside the jeep. One told Islam to get in the jeep because he would like to have a few words with him. The auto shop owner said Islam replied saying that he had already had a conversation with a commanding officer of RAB-3. Then the RAB officers forced Islam into the jeep and locked the doors. The auto shop owner said that then another RAB officer got down from the jeep and wrote some notes. Two RAB officers returned with the auto shop owner to his garage and asked him to put the unassembled wipers and other car parts inside Islam’s car, and then one of the RAB members demanded the keys and took the car, following the jeep towards the Shahbagh Police Station. The auto shop owner said he then quickly contacted Islam’s family through friends.¹

A relative of Islam said that once he heard about the arrest, he immediately went to the RAB offices but got no information about his brother. The next day, the relative went to the Ramna Model Police Station and at around midnight a police officer there told him that a private car had been found at Shahbagh Police Station. Hearing this, the relative went to Shahbagh Police Station and confirmed that the private car did belong to Islam. On May 13, 2013, he went back to Ramna Model Police Station and filed a general diary (GD).²

The relative said that a RAB member told him that if he went too far with the matter, he too would be disappeared.³

Islam’s mother, Saleha Begum, visited various police and RAB offices, but none of the offices gave her any information. On May 15, 2013, she went to RAB-3 with a written complaint and a letter from the then-whip of the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury, asking for Islam’s whereabouts. On May 16, 2013, she submitted a written complaint to the national human rights commission, but as of July 2020, she had not received any response. On May 20, 2013, she went to the Home Ministry and met with the then-home minister, Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, asking him to help her get her son back. She said Alamgir gave her a written plea to include in her complaint and told her to bring it back to RAB-3. She brought this to the then-director of RAB, Mokhlesur Rahman, but still she has received no information about the whereabouts of her son.⁴

Mohammad Fokhrul Islam is still missing.

On the evening of December 6, 2013, Munna and Jhontu were picked up by alleged law enforcement officers at Mollartek bazaar, near Dhaka’s international airport. Munna was the joint secretary of the Bangladesh nationalist party’s (BNP) student wing at Biman Bandar Thana in Dhaka. Jhontu was the joint secretary of the BNP student wing at Tejgaon College where he was studying. According to his family, Jhontu had three criminal cases lodged against him related to his political activities.

Between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on December 6, Jamal, a local businessman, was walking home after closing his shop when he saw his friend, Jhontu, in front of a laundry shop on the opposite side of the road. Jamal said he spoke briefly to Jhontu before heading home.¹ At about 10 p.m., Mohammad Joshimuddin, the laundry shop owner, was returning to his shop when he saw Jhontu being detained by men in plainclothes. He said:

“I saw Jhontu handcuffed and being held by one or two men. I have known Jhontu for around seven years as he is a customer. The men holding Jhontu were in plainclothes, and I am not sure whether they had any weapons. I walked past them without saying anything. I was very scared.”²

Joshimuddin said that after he entered his shop, some men arrived and searched the shop. “They were asking me whether Jhontu kept anything here or not, and they searched everywhere, but did not find anything.”³ He then saw Jhontu being bundled into a microbus parked down the road. Joshimuddin said that he did not know the contact details of Jhontu’s family, so he contacted Jamal, Jhontu’s friend who owned the shop across the street. Jamal said he informed Jhontu’s family.⁴

Nizam Uddin Munna went outside to buy medicine and vegetables at about 6:30 p.m. on the same day. Three hours later, Munna called his father, Shamsuddin, and asked him to collect the purchases from him. Shamsuddin said he witnessed his son’s arrest:

“I met Munna, who gave me a small bag of vegetables and my medicine. All the shops were closed, with only roadside lights on. Then Munna received a call on his mobile. He did not answer, and instead started walking in the direction of a white large microbus, a Mitsubishi, which was standing in front of Halima Pharmacy, which was closed. When my son walked away, I was curious and walked in the same direction to see what Munna was doing. Then I saw about five plainclothes-dressed men, carrying weapons, grab Munna and push him into the microbus. Seeing this, I ran toward the microbus and shouted, “Where are you taking my son?” One of the men replied, “There is an allegation against your son.” I asked the men, “Who are you?” One man replied that they were from RAB, but another replied they were from DB. The whole incident hardly took less than a minute. I was pushed away and the microbus moved away with the door open.”⁵

Hasina Begum, Jhontu’s mother, said that early the next morning, Jamal, after hearing about the arrest, came and told the family that it was likely that DB had Jhontu in custody.⁶ Family members then went to the laundry shop and heard what had happened the night before. Saiful Islam Mithu, Jhontu’s younger brother, went to the court assuming that Jhontu would be brought there, but he was not.⁷ He also tried to file a police complaint:

“On December 9, after spending the whole day in court, I went to Dokinkan Police Station. I wanted to mention in a GD that DB had taken my brother but the police officer on duty did not allow this. The duty officer said, “If you want to accuse a law enforcing agency of taking your brother, then you have to specify the name of the person in the DB team member who had picked him up. Otherwise you just file a GD saying that your brother is missing.” Since I had no idea about the exact identity of the people who had taken my brother I just filed a GD, stating that my brother had gone missing.”⁸

Jhontu’s brother said he went to several police stations over the next few days but none had any information. He said he went to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) offices at least six times, but was not allowed to meet anyone.⁹

Munna’s father said he decided to go immediately to the RAB office after witnessing his son’s arrest. The guards would not let him in, but he waited outside the gates from about 10 p.m. to midnight. He said he then went to the DB office, and waited in front of the gate all night, trying to look into every vehicle that came and went. He then tried to lodge a police complaint, but was not allowed:

“I approached the local police station. The duty officer told me that the police would not allow a complaint against RAB or any law enforcing agency. I was told that if I wanted to file a GD, I would have to describe that my son went missing.”¹⁰

Eventually, on December 9, 2013, both Munna and Jhontu’s families were able to file General Diaries with Dakkhinkhan Police Station¹¹ However, the families said since then the police harassed them for having filed GDs, visiting them in their homes multiple times and admonishing them.¹²

“I urge the state, please at least inform us if my son is still alive or law enforcers have killed him. If he is dead, give his body back to us so that we can bury him,” Shamsuddin told the media in 2016.¹³ Shamsuddin has since passed away. “My husband died without finding our son,” Munna’s mother said. “Please show me my son’s grave, I will go pray for him.”¹⁴

Jhontu’s brother, Mohammad Saiful Islam Mintu, said that since Jhontu was picked up, law enforcement continued to harass his family and new cases alleging hartal-related violence were filed against Jhontu in 2017.¹⁵

Jhontu’s brother said that after the cases were filed in 2017 police would come to their home looking for Jhontu to fulfill the arrest warrant. He said they would frequently threaten their family and even served a notice that their property would be confiscated if Jhontu did not show up in court. In 2019, Jhontu’s mother, Hasina, wrote a letter to the police saying her son had disappeared in 2013 and requesting that the harassment stop. They haven’t had visits from the police since.¹⁶

Nizam Uddin Munna and Tariqul Islam Jhontu are still missing.

Mohammad Mohon Mia’s father, Jamsher Ali, said that on June 10, 2018 at around 10:30 p.m., a few men claiming to be from the Detective Branch (DB) of Police approached Mia at his grocery shop next door to his house. When one of the men grabbed Mia by the gold chain around his neck, Mia started screaming and calling out to his father. Hearing his son’s screams, Ali ran to the shop. While Ali was fighting with the man holding Mia by his necklace, two other men drove by on a motorbike and picked up Mia. A little way down the road, the men pushed Mia into a ‘Noah’ brand microbus.¹

Ali asked the man who had grabbed Mia’s chain, where his son was being taken. The man told Ali to contact the Detective Branch of Police.

Ali went to the Mirpur Detective Branch office but officials denied having Mia in their custody. On June 11, 2018, Mia’s mother, Nasima Begum, filed a general diary (GD) with Mirpur Model Police Station and Mia’s wife, Shahnaz Begum, filed another GD at the same station on June 21, 2018.²

A couple days later, Ali received a phone call from a man who said he was an officer from RAB-4, asking to meet. When they met, the man showed Ali a photo of Mia on his mobile phone and asked him if this was his son. Ali said it was and asked him where Mia was. According to Ali, the officer then told him that Mia was in the RAB-4 office. While leaving, the man asked Ali to buy anti-inflammatory medicine for Mia.³

The next day, the officer came again and asked Ali to give provide some clothes, a towel, and 500 Taka (about US$6) for his son. The officer also gave Ali a hand-written note from his son.⁴ The next day, the officer came again and returned the clothes and towel. When Ali asked about his son, the officer said that Mia was no longer in RAB-4. Since then, Ali has heard nothing more about his son’s whereabouts.⁵

On August 28, 2018, Ali held a press conference at the Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association in Dhaka, calling for his son’s return. On August 30, 2018, he filed a criminal case with Mirpur Model Police Station.⁶

On September 6, 2018, Ali submitted a complaint to the national human rights commission (NHRC) and the commission asked the Public Security Department of the Home Ministry several times for their investigation report. Ali said they heard from the NHRC that the Home Ministry finally delivered a report on July 17, 2019, but they haven’t been able to obtain the contents.⁷

Ali is now trying to file a writ petition with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court.⁸

Mohammad Mohon Mia is still missing.

Moazzem Hossain Tapu, 28, was a former president of the Rampura unit of the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, and was aspiring to be appointed to a higher political post.

In November 2015, as a result of a clash in Rampura between the local Awami League members, Tapu went into hiding in his home village in Faridganj, Chandpur District.¹ Two months later, on January 26, his mother, Saleha Begum, said that her son called her to say that he was back in Dhaka. He left Faridganj at about 8 a.m.

“Tapu suddenly told me over the phone that he had reached Dhaka as his friends Imon and Tajul had arranged a meeting with members of the Jubo League to reach a mutual understanding and end old rivalries.”²

Later that night, Tapu’s brother, Moinul Hossain Opu, said that Imon phoned him to say that Tapu had been picked up from an apartment in Bashundhara Residential Area under Vatara Police Station. Opu said:

“We went to the apartment immediately. One of the guards there told us that three people in plainclothes went to the apartment and picked up my brother around midnight. When the guard tried to stop them, they introduced themselves as members of DB (Detective Branch).”³

The family went to the Vatara Police Station to inquire about his whereabouts.⁴ The sub-inspector on duty told them he had no information about Tapu, and they should inquire with the DB or Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) offices. On January 28, the family attempted to file a general diary (GD) at the station, but the officers would not initially accept it, and asked the family to consult the DB or RAB.

On January 30, the family filed a GD. They followed up two days later, on February 1, filing a First Information Report (FIR) at the police station. They said they did so at the suggestion of the home minister, whom they met regarding Tapu’s disappearance, getting ready access because several family members hold leadership positions in the Awami League. They added that the minister made several calls to different law enforcement agencies, including the DB, RAB, and Inspector General’s Office on Tapu’s behalf.

Based on information provided by the home minister, Tapu’s family thinks that some Jubo League leaders were behind the disappearance, and they have filed a FIR alleging their involvement. They believe that these Jubo League leaders bribed a RAB unit to apprehend and detain Tapu, though they did not name police or RAB officers in their complaint.

Tapu’s family organized several press conferences seeking information and complained about threats and demands for bribes.⁵ His mother said: “We’ve never received an official acknowledgement that he is in custody. We don’t know where he is being held. At least if there was a body, we would know what happened. We don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”⁶

Tapu’s elder brother, said that twice members of the Special Branch of police came to his office and told him that his brother would be returned after the election.⁷

Eventually, the Vatara Police Station submitted a Final Report, closing the case. The family filed a Naraji petition— a petition arguing that the police investigation was fraudulent, biased, or was politically influenced, in which case the magistrate will order a further investigation. The court ordered the case be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), but the CID filed a final closure report to the court as well. The family tried filing a new case with the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in 2020 and the court ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the case, but it has been pending since.⁸

In the early afternoon of December 2, 2013, seven activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) student wing were socializing inside the Suhrawardy Udyan Park in central Dhaka. Five of the activists—including Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohammad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal—walked to a nearby restaurant at an intersection in central Dhaka known as Shahbagh, while the other two went to the neighboring Shishu Amusement Park to purchase tickets so that after lunch they could meet inside.1 As the five men left the Shahbagh restaurant and walked back toward Shishu Amusement Park, four of them— Sarkar, Zahir, Hossain, and Chanchal—were picked up by law enforcement officers dressed in civilian dress and were bundled into a microbus. Two of the three remaining men witnessed the detention and asked not to be identified.

One of the men present at the restaurant, along with the other four who were disappeared, said that that the group had planned to meet at Shishu Amusement Park because they considered it safe. He said security forces caught up with them as they were leaving the restaurant:

“I was the first to leave, and I noticed as I left that there were two microbuses parked ahead of us, but I got distracted because I received a phone call. I slowed down and the others went ahead of me. As they got closer to Shishu Amusement Park they came to an area of pavement where there are boundary railings of Shishu Amusement Park on the right and on the left, another set of railings which separate the pavement from the road. As they entered this area, I suddenly heard someone shouting, “Catch them, catch them.” The men could not escape as there were these railings on both sides. As this was happening, I had not quite reached the part of the pavement [with the railings] and so I could cross the road, which is what I did. I saw my friends being grabbed and put into a microbus by men dressed in plainclothes.”2

As soon as the vehicles disappeared, the witness called his political colleagues to warn them to stay away from Shishu Amusement Park.3 One of the two men that had been waiting inside the main entrance of the park also witnessed the detention.4

Sarkar’s father, Mohammad Shamsul Rahman, said that he received a call from one of his son’s colleagues who witnessed his son’s detention. He said he then tried to find his son:

“After I had finished the call, another son of mine called Sohel’s phone. It was answered but there was a lot of noise and crying. I went to Shahbagh Police Station and asked whether four people had been taken, but the police denied this. I found someone who I knew at the police station, and he showed me the cells and said, “Look, he is not there.” I tried to file a GD at the station but the police did not allow me to do that. I went the following day to the DB office but they said that they were not involved and had no information.”5

Rahman was later able to file a GD in his local police station in Bangshal, but the police only allowed him to file a missing person complaint, and not allege that his son was taken by law enforcement officers.6

Sarkar’s wife, Nilufar Yasmin Shilpi, said that when she heard her husband and his colleagues had been picked up, she immediately tried calling him and someone picked up the phone. She said she could hear Sarkar crying and then the phone call dropped and was switched off. This was the last she heard her husband.7

Hossain’s wife, Farzeena Akhter, said her husband had about six criminal cases lodged against him, which she claimed were all false allegations for his political activities.8 When she and other family members went to the DB office, they were not allowed into the building. The family filed a missing person GD on December 14, 2013, at the police station.

Chanchal’s wife, Reshma Akhter, said that when her husband, who she said had no criminal cases against him, did not return as planned for a family outing, she started calling him but his phone was switched off.9 She finally called Anwar Hossain, Chanchal’s brother. Anwar went to the police but was told that they had not arrested anyone by that name.10 Chanchal’s relatives also went to the DB and RAB offices, but the officials denied having him in custody. They lodged a missing person GD on December 22, 2013.

Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hossain, who said that his brother had as many as 25 criminal cases of a “political” nature against him, said that the police only allowed him to file a missing person GD, which he did on December 14.11

A day or two after the four men were picked up, a local businessman said he saw the four men detained at the DB office:

“On December 3, I visited the DB office at about 3 p.m. to meet a friend of mine who worked there. While I was there, I saw a man detained inside the DB office. On the following day, Sohel’s father came to meet me and said that his son and three others had been picked up by the police. Sohel’s father showed me a photograph and I recognized him as being the same person who I had seen the previous day in the DB office. I returned to the DB office a day or so later to confirm this. I made another appointment with the DB officer. I did not go directly to his office but went to an area on the ground floor, and I saw about seven detained men. Subsequently, I saw the photographs of the three other men that were picked up and they were of the same men that I had seen inside.”12

The businessman then discovered that Sarkar was thought to be “Chacha Sohel,” someone the authorities considered to be “notorious” in the area.

“A senior police officer told me that there are strict instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office that Chacha Sohel should not be released because of his crimes. He then told me not to get involved. I called a friend in the Detective Branch with the rank of inspector and he advised me not to call again on this matter to avoid trouble. I was frightened and stopped communication with the BNP people.”13

The businessman said that he also introduced the relatives of some of the families to a retired major, who said that he was willing to help intervene in the case.

“On around the 13th of December, I brought the major [name withheld] to meet Sohel’s father. The father explained what happened to his son and the three other men. The major then called one of his friends serving in DB, and it was on speakerphone and I heard what was said. One official said, “Yes, Sohel was in our custody and we kept him for observation.” But he said that Sohel was no longer in the DB office, and that he did not where he is.”14

Some of the families said that the police continue to harass them. Sarkar’s wife said that the police often come to their house and accuse them of hiding Sarkar.15 Similarly, Hossain’s wife, Farzana, said after they filed a general diary the police came to her house threatening to arrest her. She said she had to pay them 12,000 Taka (US$140) to stop them from harassing her family.16 Still, in 2019 she said the police called, pressuring her to withdraw the general diary she filed after Hossain disappeared. She said she refused saying that when Hossain returns, she will withdraw the case.17 Zahir’s brother, Kamal Hassan, said his family faced similar harassment from the police. He said there were 12-13 cases filed against Zahir with arrest warrants issued so the police came to their home seven or eight times demanding that his mother and father show where Zahir was hiding. They were even issued a notice that the court would confiscate their property if Zahir did not show up in court. Every time the officers came, they allegedly took somewhere between 1,000-5,000 Taka ($12-60). Every time they came, Kamal says they threatened the family saying “there are a lot of cases against Zahir and now you are hiding him. Bring him, otherwise we will arrest you.” Eventually they stopped in 2016 after neighbors went to the police and insisted that Zahir was missing and to stop harassing the family.

Shilpi and Sarkar’s father, Shamsur, said that they are distressed and sad after the disappearance of Sarkar and are struggling financially, especially since Sarkar was the primary income earner for the family. Since he went missing they had also exhausted their resources searching for him.18

Hossain’s wife said that when her husband was picked up, she was four-months pregnant, and her children have been growing up without their father. Her son is now seven and her daughter is 10 years old. “I need to know exactly what happened to my husband. Without knowing, it’s not possible to sustain life with dignity,” she said.

Chanchal’s mother, Bibi Hazera, said that Chanchal had been very attached to her and supported her financially. She told Odhikar how Hossain had paid for her eye operation just a few days before his disappearance. She told the human rights organization, Odhikar, that she “feels sad seeing the mental and financial hurdles that Hossain’s wife and his seven-year-old son face.”19 Chanchal’s wife said that she is constantly thinking of him and has left all of his belongings in place in case he returns. “I am living life without life,” she said.20

Zahir’s mother, Hosne Ara Begum, told Odhikar “every day and night, I believe Zahir will come back to me.”21

Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel Sarkar, Mohammad Habibul Bashar Zahir, Mohamad Parvez Hossain, and Mohammad Hossain Chanchal are still missing.

According to Kamal Hossain’s wife, Mosamat Sharmin, a relative called her at around 8 a.m. on March 20, 2013, and told her that the previous night people in plainclothes claiming to be members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had arrested Hossain along with Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil and Toyob Pramanik.¹

Another witness, named here “E,” said that security forces—some in plainclothes, and others in RAB uniforms— arrived at his home the night of March 19, 2013, and that E noticed that Hossain, Khalil, and Pramanik were in their custody. The officers said they were looking for E’s son. But the son was not home. E said that the men then beat him up and drove away with Khalil, Hossain, and Pramanik.

A grocery shopkeeper said that on May 19, 2013, at around 11 p.m. he was sitting at his shop when 10 to 12 men—some in plainclothes, some in RAB uniforms—pulled up in a microbus to his shop. He said that all of them were armed and they asked for pan (betel leaf) and cigarettes, and that one of the men told them not to sell anything to anyone else while they were there. As they were pulling away, the shopkeeper said he saw Pramanik, Hossain, and Khalil in the microbus heading towards Bonpara (south in the direction of Dhaka).² On May 20, 2013, Khalil’s brother, Mohammad Lokman Talukdar, filed a general diary (GD) with the Boraigram Police Station.

Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, Kamal Hossain, and Toyob Pramanik are still missing.

In the early morning of December 12, 2013, law enforcement officers arrested Selim Reza Pintu from his brother’s house in Mirpur, Dhaka. According to his family, he had a number of criminal cases against him, involving alleged vandalism. Five of his political colleagues from the area had previously been picked up on November 28, though three of them were subsequently released.

The political situation and arrest of Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP) supporters meant that Pintu and his wife, Tarannum Nahas, had been living in an apartment in Mirpur belonging to a relative, rather than their own in Sutrapur. On December 12, security officers came searching for Pintu in the middle of night. According to his brother, Aslam Reza Mintu, five or six men with weapons made the arrest, claiming they were from the “administration.” Tarannum Nahas, who was in the room with her husband, said Pintu realized that security forces had come for him and decided not to contest his detention:

“Pintu was sleeping, and when he heard the noise he knew what was happening and opened the door to the room. As soon as he opened the door they asked whether he was Pintu. He said, “Yes, I am Pintu.” Then two of the men grabbed him. Another man entered the room and asked where were Pintu’s mobiles. He had four phones and they took two of them. The other two were in my bag. Pintu asked who the men were. They said, “We are from the administration.” He asked to see their ID cards, and they said, “It will not be a problem. You will be safe with us.” My husband did not put up any resistance.”¹

Family members went to the local police station the next morning. His sister, Rehana Banu Munni, said:

“They behaved badly toward us and would not initially allow us to file a GD. They said wait for some time. The police did not want to file a GD making an allegation against law enforcement people. However, after a few days a journalist, who was a friend of my brother, came and he helped us to get a GD filed mentioning that he was taken by law enforcement officials.”²

The general diary (GD) filed on December 13 states that at 1:15 a.m. on December 12: “Some 6/7 civilian dressed men came to our house and identified themselves to have the authority from the government. Then they came inside our house and took my older brother Selim Reza Pintu, 31, away with them in a gray car Dhaka Metro 5070. Afterward we looked for him everywhere in the locality but we could not find him.”³

Pintu’s sister visited different police stations and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and DB headquarters. When police set up an anti-kidnapping squad in May 2014, she submitted details of his case.⁴ She subsequently met Sanwar Hossain, an additional commissioner responsible for the new squad, who told her to “be patient.” She also submitted a complaint to a senior RAB officer. The family did not receive any further information.

In 2015, the family tried to file a case with the Pallabi Police Station but Munni said the then Officer in charge took their statement and told them he would follow up later. When they contacted the Officer in Charge (OC) about the case, Munni says he replied that their case was not being taken up as per the “instructions from higher authority.”⁵

Pintu’s family then filed a case against the Pallabi Police Station under section 365 of the Penal Code and the court ordered the station to accept the case.⁶ Sub Inspector Kamal Hossain investigated the case and submitted a final report to the court alleging that Pintu had been picked up from his house by six or seven unidentified persons in a gray color microbus, but that the accused could not be identified, so the police submitted a final report, closing the case. Munni told the human rights organization, Odhikar, that they filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission March 4, 2015 but haven’t heard anything back.⁷

Selim Reza Pintu is still missing.

Mohammad Zakir Hossain’s brother, Ataur Rahman, said that he learned that his brother was picked up through a news scroll on Diganta TV saying that the president of the Adabar Unit of the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami had been arrested. Hossain’s family immediately went to Dhaka to search for him. They learned from his flatmates that on April 3, 2013, at around 3 a.m., four or five men in plainclothes came to their home in Mohammadpur and said they were looking for Hossain. The men found Hossain by calling his phone and hearing the phone ring on him. When Hossain’s flatmates asked the men who they were, they allegedly said they were from law enforcement and that they were there to take Hossain. The flatmates told Hossain’s family that they later saw the men drive away with Hossain in a vehicle with a RAB-2 sticker on the side.¹

The family then went to Mohammadpur Police Station and filed a general diary (GD) and then to the Detective Branch (DB) office on Mintu Road and the RAB-2 office, but they denied having Hossain in custody.² Hossain’s family hasn’t received any further information since.

Hossain is still missing.³