HRW again urges govt to disband RAB

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Bangladeshi authorities to disband the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) immediately. This came after a Narayanganj court sentenced 26 people, including 16 RAB members, to death after finding them guilty of murdering seven people. The HRW asked the government to replace the RAB with a “rights-respecting force”. The plea came from Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of HRW.
She wrote on the HRW website yesterday that the “…RAB has been deployed by successive governments not only to fight crime, but often as an in-house death squad, leaving a string of extrajudicial killings—often referred to as ‘crossfire’ deaths, torture, disappearances, and arbitrary arrests in their wake. And for years, almost no members of RAB were held to account for these crimes (sic)”.
Describing the January 16 Narayanganj district and sessions court verdict a “very rare” one, the HRW statement referred to the sentencing of 26 people, including 16 RAB members, to death for their role in a politically-motivated murder case in 2014. Nine RAB members were sentenced to prison terms. However, the HRW also noted that it opposes the death penalty and would not call for carrying it out.
The statement further observed that “(f)or too long, RAB officials have been shielded from prosecution by successive governments, some even justifying their crimes. But in this case, the court has found (that) a local Awami League politician Nur Hossain crossed the line by contracting members of RAB-11, the unit deployed in the area, to abduct and kill his political rival Nazrul Islam, also an Awami League official”. The HRW statement alleged that those convicted are not the only ones responsible for the situation.
“The government has responsibilities too, because of the climate of impunity it has created. In recent cases, when RAB and other law enforcement agencies have disappeared people, witnesses say officers arrived claiming they were from the ‘administration’, an open admission they worked for the state. Many of the disappeared people have later turned up dead (sic),” Meenakshi Ganguly further alleged. The rights group stated that the prosecution of the RAB members was a welcome step towards ending violence and impunity. “But it should not only happen when the victim is a ruling party member,” Ganguly wrote.
The HRW reminded that “before taking office in 2009 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (had) said (that) she would reform RAB”.
But “(t)his has not happened, so it is time for the government to take immediate steps to disband the RAB and replace it with a rights-respecting force”, went the post. The director general of RAB, Benajir Ahmed, said yesterday that the RAB as a force was not responsible for the individual actions of those who were sentenced. “It was their own responsibility, not the RAB’s,” he added.

 

HRW again urges govt to disband RAB

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Bangladeshi authorities to disband the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) immediately. This came after a Narayanganj court sentenced 26 people, including 16 RAB members, to death after finding them guilty of murdering seven people. The HRW asked the government to replace the RAB with a rights-respecting force. The plea came from Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of HRW. She wrote on the HRW website yesterday that the RAB has been deployed by successive governments not only to fight crime, but often as an in-house death squad, leaving a string of extrajudicial killingsoften referred to as crossfire deaths, torture, disappearances, and arbitrary arrests in their wake. And for years, almost no members of RAB were held to account for these crimes (sic). Describing the January 16 Narayanganj district and sessions court verdict a very rare one, the HRW statement referred to the sentencing of 26 people, including 16 RAB members, to death for their role in a politically-motivated murder case in 2014. Nine RAB members were sentenced to prison terms. However, the HRW also noted that it opposes the death penalty and would not call for carrying it out. The statement further observed that (f)or too long, RAB officials have been shielded from prosecution by successive governments, some even justifying their crimes. But in this case, the court has found (that) a local Awami League politician Nur Hossain crossed the line by contracting members of RAB-11, the unit deployed in the area, to abduct and kill his political rival Nazrul Islam, also an Awami League official. The HRW statement alleged that those convicted are not the only ones responsible for the situation. The government has responsibilities too, because of the climate of impunity it has created. In recent cases, when RAB and other law enforcement agencies have disappeared people, witnesses say officers arrived claiming they were from the administration, an open admission they worked for the state. Many of the disappeared people have later turned up dead (sic), Meenakshi Ganguly further alleged. The rights group stated that the prosecution of the RAB members was a welcome step towards ending violence and impunity. But it should not only happen when the victim is a ruling party member, Ganguly wrote. The HRW reminded that before taking office in 2009 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (had) said (that) she would reform RAB. But (t)his has not happened, so it is time for the government to take immediate steps to disband the RAB and replace it with a rights-respecting force, went the post. The director general of RAB, Benajir Ahmed, said yesterday that the RAB as a force was not responsible for the individual actions of those who were sentenced. It was their own responsibility, not the RABs, he added.