Ensure fair trial, justice for victims

The government of Bangladesh must ensure justice for the victims of the February 2009 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny by ensuring that all suspects receive a fair trial, said Amnesty International in a report published yesterday.

Amnesty condemned the unlawful killings, hostage taking and other human rights abuses by members of the Bangladesh Rifles, which killed at least 74 people, including six civilians.

The mutiny broke out at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka on February 25 2009, just two months the newly elected government took office, and quickly spread to BDR barracks across the country.

It took government officials 33 hours to negotiate an end to the mutiny.

The only publicly available official investigation failed to establish its cause, however government officials allege it was a conspiracy to unseat the newly elected government.

Following the mutiny, thousands of BDR personnel were confined to barracks and denied access to a legal representative for weeks or months.

The report, based on the testimony of BDR members and their relatives, alleges that the methods of torture used against those suspected of taking part included sleep deprivation, beatings, the use of pliers to crush testicles, inserting needles under suspect's nails and administering electric shocks.

Forty-eight members of the BDR died in custody between 9 March and 10 October 2009.

Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International's Bangladesh Researcher said, "The reports of torture that Amnesty International has received are consistent with the previously documented torture and ill treatment of detainees in Bangladesh.

"It's not good enough for the authorities to deny that torture is taking place.

"There must be greater accountability on this issue."

Amnesty International has welcomed the Supreme Court's clarification that army courts martial have no jurisdiction to try BDR personnel accused of mass killings, but urges the government to reconsider its decision to use the Speedy Trial Tribunal because the time limit it imposes on the length of trial may lead to a miscarriage of justice.

Amnesty urges the Bangladeshi authorities not to seek the death penalty, to which it is opposed, and recommends that Bangladesh ratifies the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.