Summary:
- UPDF leader Mikel Changma files written complaint with ICT against former PM Sheikh Hasina and nine others on December 30, 2024, seeking justice for his five-year enforced disappearance.
- Changma was abducted by plainclothes personnel on April 9, 2019, from Kalyanpur, Dhaka, and held in a secret detention facility called “Aynaghar” where he faced torture and interrogation.
- The case highlights systematic enforced disappearances during Hasina’s administration, with over 1,676 complaints recorded and estimates suggesting more than 3,500 total cases.
- A Commission of Inquiry has identified eight secret detention centers in Dhaka and Chattogram, implicating high-ranking security officials and former government leaders.
United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) leader Mikel Changma has filed a formal written complaint with Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and nine others, alleging crimes against humanity related to his five-year enforced disappearance.
The complaint was submitted to the ICT’s chief prosecutor’s office on December 30, 2024, following an earlier verbal complaint made on December 18. Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam confirmed receiving the complaint and stated, “We have taken note of the complaint. We will start investigating soon.”
According to Changma’s testimony, he was abducted on April 9, 2019, in the Kalyanpur area of Dhaka by approximately seven to eight plainclothes individuals. “They blindfolded me and put me in a microbus. There was a walkie-talkie inside the car. First, they locked me in a room and later took me to two more rooms, where I was tortured,” he recounted.
The UPDF leader was reportedly held in a secret detention facility known as “Aynaghar” for five years and four months. During his detention, he was allegedly interrogated about a 2013 incident involving a road blockade during Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Khagrachari for a rally.
This complaint comes amid broader investigations into enforced disappearances during the Hasina administration. A recently established Commission of Inquiry has identified over eight secret detention centers operated by various security agencies in Dhaka and Chattogram. The commission has recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances, with estimates suggesting the total number could exceed 3,500 cases.
The commission’s chairman, retired justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury, revealed finding a “systematic design” to conceal these disappearances. The investigation has implicated several high-ranking officials from security forces and the former government, including Hasina’s defense adviser Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique.
Changma was accompanied by prominent photojournalist Shahidul Alam and Professor Rehnuma Ahmed when filing his initial verbal complaint. Despite previous efforts, including a High Court writ petition and appeals from Amnesty International and human rights activists, the former government had taken no action to investigate his disappearance.
The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to investigate and prosecute cases of enforced disappearances that occurred during Hasina’s tenure, which ended in June 2024 following widespread protests.
Source: TBS News
