“Justice for Rizwan Hussain” Campaign Video

Press Release: “Justice for Rizwan Hussain” Demonstration

“Justice for Rizwan Hussain” Demonstration

After the arbitrary detaining and torture of British Citizen and prominent humanitarian aid worker Rizwan Hussain, on the 14th Of April at Zia International Airport, Dhaka, a new organisation has formed to raise awareness of the countless human rights violations committed in Bangladesh.

The “Bangladesh Human rights Coalition” is a gathering of established and recognised organisations with the aim of ensuring justice is achieved for Rizwan Hussain - and also to prevent future occurrences of such incidents.

With Bangladesh’s track history for human right violations, an organisation such as this, unique and focussed, is hoping to exert pressure to ensure acts like this do not pass without notice.

The BHRC was created directly after the response garnered to the “Justice for Rizwan Hussain” group on social networking site Facebook. Prior to the group, the filtration of news surrounding the incident was heavily limited and managed.

The group has grown to over 5000 members under a week, and the petition, which was drafted by one of its members on the 19th of April, has now over 8500 signatures (in five days) and is continually increasing in the number of signatories.

The rate of growth of the social networking group and the online petition is an indicator of how Riawan Hussain is seen in the British Bangladeshi and Muslim community, and is a vivid sign that these acts will not be ignored.

To further exert pressure on key individuals, the Bangladesh Human Rights Coalition is organising a demonstration for the 26th of April 2008. Rizwan Hussain, among other high profile individuals will be speaking to show their support for the cause.

The Bangladesh Human Rights Coalition are asking for:

1. An independent enquiry into the matter.

2. An apology from the air force for the barbaric actions of their personnel.

3. An apology from the Caretaker Government for failing to prevent the injustice suffered by this high profile philanthropist.

4. The trial and dismissal of the officers involved in the incident, upon their conviction.

Demonstration Details:

Location: Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel Road (Nearest Tube: Whitechapel Station)
Time: 5pm
Date: 26^th April 2008

Press release created by Bangladesh Human Rights Coalition.

Press Contact:

Fatema Khatun
info@bdhumanright.org.uk
www.bdhumanright.org.uk

Update: Rizwan Hussain

We have been inundated with emails. It’s great to see such support for this campaign.

We however need more signatures for the petition. Please do pass it on to all your friends and family.

I can confirm, after a conversation with Rizwan Bhai, that he is feeling better, but still trying to recover from the shock.

An unofficial source has informed us that four air force officers have been arrested in relation to this matter. We are expecting a comment from the British High Commissioner, Anwar Chawdhury, very soon.

Rizwan Hussain’s Statement on the incident

I travelled to Bangladesh on 11th April 2008 to visit my ailing father who is currently at Square Hospital suffering from final stages of Lung Disease.

On 14th April, I travelled to Dhaka to see off my sister, brother in law and baby nephew at Zia International Airport, she was due to fly back to the UK on BA145 at 08.00 hours. I entered the airport with his family through Door 23 having purchased a ticket for 500 taka. I accompanied my sister to the British Airways counter, assisted her to check in and then my sister proceeded on to the departure lounge.

I proceeded to leave the airport to return to my car in the car park, just as I was leaving I was approached by an elderly woman (from Loughborough) who informed me of some problems she was facing with her ticket with Emirates. It transpired that this lady was the mother in law of Abdul Mozid Taher (Organising Secretary of the Greater Sylhet Council). Mr. Taher also called at that point from UK and requested me to assist his mother in law and young sister at the airport. On this request, I spoke to the Emirates check-in counter and explained the ladies problem.

The emirates check in officer Jami asked me to wait a little while and he would get back to me if a solution can be found. I stayed a little while to help her. A few minutes later I was approached by security staff and asked how I got in. I explained that I had entered to see off my sister, brother in law, and child and presently was trying to help the elderly lady.

The security officer took me downstairs to an office known as the DSO’s office. At the DSO’s office, the DSO Iftekhar Jahan and two other officers interviewed me and insisted that I make a statement that I got in illegally and had entered with the intention of assisting illegal immigrants. I was unwilling to make a false statement. I was asked to identify myself, and I responded by stating that I was from England and by profession a Barrister. At that point, I was asked to produce proof of British citizenship my certificate of qualifications as a barrister to prove this.

The DSO then picked up the phone and made a call. A few minutes later one police officer was stationed at the door of the security office. At that point, I realised that I was not able to leave. He enquired with the DSO what was happening and he responded by saying that I would have to see a senior officer. A few minutes later five uniformed officers (navy trousers and light blue shirts) arrived and took me to the third floor. As soon as I was out of the view of the departure concourse, they started pushing and dragging me towards a room. The room was empty except three low chairs and a metal tall drum to the left. One officer remained outside to guard the door and four entered. The four that entered were Anwar, Saiful, Mizan and Delawar. The officer outside was Mujib.

In the room the four officers took out one metre long wooden battens about 3 inches in thickness and without any question started beating me. The beating continued for about 55 minutes. The assailants hit on the back, legs and arms. I was asked to stand facing a wall with my arms spread whilst they hit me on the back. After a while the beating stopped, I was then dragged to another room and told to stand in front of another officer sitting behind a desk. The officer enquired whether I signed a statement and then proceeded to instruct that I be taken back to the other room again for a statement.

I was taken back to the room and beaten again by the four officers. This time they asked me to remove my shoes and they beat me on my feet and ankles too. I asked for water as I could feel I was dehydrating. They brought a bottle of water and emptied it on the floor and asked me to drink from the floor. I refused to drink so they continued the beating. After another 30 minutes or so, they asked me again if I would write a statement. I agreed and they then stopped. My hands were shaking and I was unable to write, I was given a few minutes to steady myself then provided with pen and paper and a chair to lean on. I wrote the following statement as it was dictated to me by one of the officers named Delawar;

“I am Rizwan Hussain of Hobigonj entered the airport illegally and entered to help illegal immigrants. I am writing this statement without any mental or physical torture and in the best of health. I am sorry; I will never do this again”

I was the taken back to the other room in front of the senior officer behind the desk and he instructed me to apologies individually to the officers who beaten me. The officer then instructed that I was `taken back to cell to tidy myself up.

I was taken back to the empty room and just as beating was about to start again, Mujib, the fifth officer entered the room and asked the other 4 to leave. Mujib sat with me for a while whilst I regained some strength. He asked me too button up my blazer to hide my shirt that was ripped. I was asked to practice walking around the room. After about half an hour I was taken downstairs and left outside at a back entrance of the airport. I then somehow managed to walk to near the mosque and called my younger cousin & driver to pick me up.

I was very much in shock and did want to remain in Dhaka as I was scared for my security. I was also worried that I had to get some medicine to my father in hospital as soon as possible; hence I immediately left for Hobigonj.

Later in the evening I visited a hospital in hobigonj where I was seen to. I discovered at that point that I had suffered multiple fractures to right leg and a broken right arm. I was in great pain and unable to walk. On my back, arms and legs I suffered severe bruising, some 60% of the upper body was severely bruised. I was x-rayed and was prescribed medicine. Plastering was not available in Hobigonj and I had to return to Dhaka the next day for plastering and then further x-rays at Square Hospital.

First BDHR Coaltion Campaign - ‘Justice for Rizwan Hussain’

After the incident with Brother Rizwan and taking into account the many other past human rights violation that has occurred and is occurring in Bangladesh, this coalition has formed.

‘Justice for Rizwan Hussain’ will be our first campaign. If you would like to be involved with this campaign, please send your name and details to this email address

info@bdhumanrights.org.uk

We need like minded active individuals to support us through this campaign, as the petition is only the start.

If your organisation, company or charity would like to be affiliated and support this campaign, please also send your details to the email address above.

Reminder Please sign the petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/rizwan/petition-sign.html

Facebook group for Rizwan Hussain

Please check and join the Facebook group as communication/updates will occur primarily from there

link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12323537407

Once you have joined please invite all of your friends.

Online Petition for Rizwan Hussain

Sign the online petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/rizwan/petition.html

We are asking for:

1. An independant enquiry into the matter.

2. An apology from the military for the barbaric actions of their personnel.

3. An apology from the Caretaker Government for failing to prevent the injustice suffered by this high profile philanthropist.

4. The trial and dismissal of the officers involved in the incident, upon their conviction.

Bangladesh: Tortured Journalist Describes Surviving Military Beatings

(New York, February 14, 2008) – The arbitrary arrest and torture of journalist Tasneem Khalil by Bangladesh’s notorious military intelligence agency highlights abuses under the country’s state of emergency and the interim government’s failure to restrain the security forces, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today. Human Rights Watch called upon the Bangladeshi government, as well as the country’s donors, to urgently tackle the endemic problem of torture.

The 39-page report, “The Torture of Tasneem Khalil: How the Bangladesh Military Abuses Its Power Under the State of Emergency,” graphically details Khalil’s 22-hour ordeal in May 2007 in Bangladesh’s clandestine detention and torture system – a setup well known to the government, ordinary Bangladeshis, Dhaka’s donors and diplomatic community.

“Rampant illegal detention and torture are clear evidence of Bangladesh’s security forces running amok,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “Tasneem Khalil’s prominence as a critical journalist may have prompted his arrest, but it also may have saved his life. Ordinary Bangladeshis held by the security forces under the emergency rules have no such protections.”

At a detention center operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the military intelligence agency, officers brutally beat and threatened Khalil, a journalist for the English-language Daily Star, part-time consultant for Human Rights Watch, and a news representative for CNN. Demonstrating just how confident they are that they will not be held accountable, DGFI officials even brought Khalil to meet the editor of his paper before returning him to the detention center for further beatings.

After his release and a month in hiding, Khalil fled Bangladesh for safety in Sweden, which granted asylum to him and his family. This report represents the first time that Khalil has spoken publicly of his experiences.

Late one night in May 2007, armed men presenting themselves as belonging to the “joint forces” came to Khalil’s apartment in central Dhaka. In front of his wife and infant, they pressed a gun against his lips, blindfolded him and brought him to a waiting car. He was taken to an interrogation center run by the DGFI, where he was held in a cell specially designed for torture. Khalil was threatened with execution and repeatedly kicked and beaten with batons on the head, arms, abdomen and other parts of the body. He was forced to confess to – and implicate friends and colleagues in – anti-state and anti-military activity, and to smuggling of sensitive national security information to foreign organizations.

Khalil was punished for his criticism of the security forces’ role in extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses.

After tremendous international and national pressure, Khalil was released after 22 hours in custody. He then had to go into hiding for a month, before international pressure compelled the authorities to allow him to leave Bangladesh safely for asylum in Sweden.

Human Rights Watch said that tens of thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained by security forces since January 2007, when the current government came to power on a reform agenda. Many of these individuals were tortured in custody. In its popular public campaign against corruption and abuse of political power, the government has routinely used torture to extract confessions or to gain information. Torture has also been used to punish and intimidate peaceful critics of the government and army’s role as the de facto rulers of the country.

Human Rights Watch urged the interim government in Bangladesh to make the protection of human rights as much of a priority as its fight against corruption. It should discipline or prosecute, as appropriate, members of the security forces, including the DGFI, the army and paramilitary forces such as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police and other government officials, regardless of rank, who have been responsible for arbitrary arrests and torture or other mistreatment of persons in detention.

“While few would dispute that corruption, organized crime, politicization of the bureaucracy and political violence had to be addressed in Bangladesh, the interim government must realize that reform cannot be built on midnight knocks on the door and torture,” said Adams. “A peaceful democratic society requires respect for basic rights.”

International human rights law permits limitations on some rights during an officially proclaimed state of emergency to “the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.” However, certain basic rights, such as the right to life and the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, may never be restricted. Bangladesh is not only obligated to prohibit torture, but to actively adopt measures to end the practice, bring those responsible to justice, and provide redress for the victims.

“The security forces have been arbitrarily detaining and torturing people, but there have been no serious attempts at holding those responsible for these criminal acts to account,” said Adams. “Why hasn’t the government made the protection of Bangladeshis from this scourge a priority? Are they reformers, or do they just say they are reformers?”

Human Rights Watch expressed its appreciation for the efforts by members of the international community to gain the release of Khalil from custody and secure his ability to leave the country afterward. But it called on donors, who have significant influence, to place a higher priority and to act with greater urgency to press the government to address torture and arbitrary detentions. Human Rights Watch noted that the government and donors know who was responsible for Khalil’s illegal detention and torture and where the facility is located, but no action has been taken.

“Bangladesh’s international friends need to make the eradication of torture a top priority in their relations with Bangladesh,” said Adams. “And they should press for the prosecution of the senior military and law enforcement officials responsible for running Bangladesh’s torture industry.”

Excerpts from Tasneem Khalil’s statement:

“[A member of the arresting party] jumped up from the chair, pulled out a revolver from his holster, pushed it against my lips, and started shouting, ‘You are under arrest.’ I started shouting back, telling them that what they were doing was illegal. Then all of them started shouting abusive words at me, telling me to shut up, otherwise there would be problems for my wife and child. Throughout, my wife Shuchi and son Tiyash were watching the whole thing.

“Then they asked me about my connections with Human Rights Watch. I told them I work as their consultant. When they inquired further, I told them I had worked with Human Rights Watch since 2006. I worked with Human Rights Watch on a report about extrajudicial killings by RAB. That suddenly infuriated them so much that all of them started hitting the table with hands and sticks and started shouting at me. ‘How dare you write against our brothers in RAB? You are a burden on society. You are an immoral, unethical insect, an anti-state criminal.’ Someone came around the table and started punching me on my head again.

“The Forum article made my interrogators furious. They started beating me again mercilessly, from all possible directions with hands and batons and kicks. I pleaded with them to give me one last chance. I said I would not do those things again. But one person said I had already ‘made the blunder.’ I think this was a reference to my lunch with the diplomats.

“The beating continued for some time. Then another person said, ‘We will think about giving you a chance, but you have to do as we say.’ He said I had to write a confession to the AIG [Additional Inspector General] of police, saying what they wanted me to say. Then I had to beg for his mercy.

“They dictated some points I should include, such as admitting that I was engaged in anti-state, anti-military, anti-RAB activity, and that I smuggled out sensitive national security information to foreign organizations. That I keep close ties with the opposition Awami League party [I am friends with many in the Awami League, but I was not a member and was not involved in party politics]. That I am engaged in propaganda against the current caretaker government. That I want to destabilize Bangladesh, that I am immoral and unethical, a yellow journalist. That whatever I write, I write for name and fame and money.

“With my blindfold off, I could finally see where I was. The room I was in was a torture cell. It was a small room with no windows, one doorway with a wooden door, and a second grill, like in a prison. The room was soundproofed with a wooden wall covered with small holes, like in an old recording studio. There were two CCTV cameras in the corners attached to the ceiling. There was a fan. I was sitting in front of a table and three batons were on the table, along with some stationery. One was a wooden baton, about a meter long. The other two were covered with black plastic. Poking out of the end of these two were metal wires which appeared to fill the plastic covers. The plastic and wire batons were a little shorter than the wooden one. I assume these were the batons they tortured me with. When one guy saw that I was looking at them, he put them aside. I’m not sure if they used electricity on me. The pain often came like shocks, but they were hitting me so hard that I’m not sure whether it was just the force that hurt like this or if it was electricity.

“Then I glanced behind me and I saw what looked like a metal bed frame. It was the same size as a normal single bed, but it was placed on a platform with steps up to it. The bed had straps fitted at the top and bottom, presumably for tying people on to it. There was a wheel to change the angle of the bed to lift it up or down. There were spikes at the top of the bed. Right beside that there were ropes fitted to the ceilings with rubber loops for wrists to go through.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Useful Links

• Amnesty International’s Bangaldesh reports
• Bangladesh Human Rights Network, the country’s first human rights webportal in Bangladesh, run by activists
• Child Labor in Bangladesh, an article by Mohammad Zulfiquer Hossain
• Coordinating Council for Human Rights in Bangladesh, an independent NGO
• Institutional Development of Human Rights in Bangladesh, a joint project of the Bangladeshi government and the UN Development Programme.
• Mayerdak: Human Rights for Bangladesh, an online journal about human rights in Bangladesh.
• Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities, dedicated to ending human rights abauses against minorities in Bangladesh.
• Human Rights Watch’s Bangladesh page
• Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh, a report from Human Rights Watch
• United Nations Human Rights Documents for Bangladesh, including treaties and reports

Operation Clean Heart

Between January and October 2005, an estimated 300 civilians died due to ‘encounter’ killings, at the hands of law enforcement agencies and the RAB. Human rights groups have recorded many of these killings, and have demanded that each death be investigated, but the government have refused to meet these requests. The government has defended RAB for having cut serious crime by fifty percent, and have, as of 2006, dismissed international condemnation of RAB——against whom the European Parliament have issued a strong resolution by saying that ‘encounter killings’ happen all over the world.

The government’s tolerance towards human rights abuses is not a new phenomenon. Operation Clean Heart, an anti-crime operation that ran nationwide from October 2002 to January 2003, led to the death of approximately sixty people, the maiming of around three thousand individuals, and the arrest of more than forty-five thousand. On the day that Operation Clean Heart was announced by the government as having ended, an ordinance was ratified that prohibited law-suits or prosecutions for human rights violations during that period, giving the armed forces and police impunity from being prosecuted for their actions.