Summary:
- Two interim government advisers identified secret DGFI detention cells where they were tortured during Bangladesh’s 2024 Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
- Nahid Islam recognized his cell by a basin-like toilet structure, noting walls were repainted post-August 2024, while Asif Mahmud identified ventilation shafts now removed.
- Interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus condemned the “nationwide torture network,” citing 605 documented secret detentions (2009–2021) and pledged accountability.
- The advisers, former protest leaders, were forcibly detained and tortured in July 2024 before their historic appointments to the caretaker government.
Bangladesh’s interim government advisers Md Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan today identified the secret detention cells where they were allegedly tortured during last year’s Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. The two, now the youngest members of the caretaker administration, made the revelations during a visit to the DGFI’s Aynaghar interrogation facilities with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, who called the sites “horrific” and “unbelievable.”
Nahid Islam, 26, pointed to a cell in Agargaon’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) complex, noting “a basin-like structure served as a toilet in one corner” and walls that had been repainted after August 5, 2024. Asif Mahmud, 26, recognized his former confinement space by its ventilation shafts, now removed, and described being blindfolded for four days during detention. “They took me to an external toilet with my eyes covered,” he said, adding that interior walls had since been demolished to expand cell sizes.
The visit followed testimonies from hundreds who disappeared during the Awami League government’s tenure, with a state-appointed commission documenting 605 secret detentions between 2009 and 2021. Yunus, visibly shaken, stated “these torture cells exist nationwide—some say 700 to 800—erasing every shred of humanity.” He pledged accountability through ongoing investigations while flanked by victims, advisers, and international media.
Nahid and Asif rose to prominence as coordinators of the July 2024 protests that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s administration. Both were forcibly taken by plainclothes officers during the crackdown, with Nahid’s brother later revealing “he was tortured unconscious and dumped on the road.” Their appointments as youth and information advisers marked a historic shift in Bangladesh’s political landscape.
The Aynaghar cells, first exposed by Sweden-based Netra News, became symbolic of systemic repression. Today’s tour confirmed victims’ accounts of solitary confinement, restricted communication, and psychological abuse. The interim government has vowed to preserve the sites as evidence for future trials while accelerating reforms to dismantle remnants of the alleged torture network.
