Bangladeshi civil tribunal sends 15 serving army officers to jail in enforced disappearance case

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) on Wednesday sent 15 serving army officers to jail after their court appearances from military custody to face trial on charges of enforced disappearances, murders and custodial tortures during the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.

The Bangladesh Army on October 11 took into custody the 15 officers after the special tribunal ordered their arrest to stand trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

“The tribunal has ordered the 15 army officers produced today in connection with the enforced disappearances and murders, and tortures in custody to be sent to jail,” ICT-BD Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam told reporters after the proceedings.

The tribunal did not hear any bail petitions, noting that there is a formal process for bail pleas and the officers could submit formal applications before the next hearing scheduled for November 5, he said.

The tribunal, chaired by Justice M Golam Mortuza Mojumder, also ordered the arrest of “fugitive” former premier Hasina and other absconding accused and produce them before the court.

Earlier in the day, prison authorities brought the 15 officers in a green-coloured bus under tight security from Dhaka Cantonment, where they had been kept under military custody since arrest warrants were issued on October 8.

The officers, including one major general, six brigadier generals, and several colonels, lieutenant colonels and a major, appeared in civilian clothes under heavy security by police in riot gear and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

They were later returned to a designated “sub-jail” building inside the cantonment under prison authority supervision.

Defence lawyer Barrister Sarwar Hossain told reporters the officers would file two petitions, one seeking bail and the other requesting their confinement under special custody if bail was denied.

The developments come amid heightened political tensions ahead of the general elections expected in February next year. The interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has amended the ICT-BD law to try the leaders of the Hasina regime.

The trial of serving officers in a civil court under the amended ICT-BD law, rather than under military law, has triggered unease within the armed forces.

An ICT-BD prosecutor on Tuesday warned the army that the 15 officers would be declared “fugitives” unless they appeared before the tribunal on Wednesday.

“If they fail to appear or are not produced tomorrow, the tribunal will set a new date... Non-appearance on that date would lead to them being declared absconding,” ICT-BD Prosecutor Gazi MAE Tamim told reporters.

On October 8, the tribunal issued warrants against 16 serving army officers and 14 others, including Hasina, over their alleged role in “enforced disappearances or abduction and torture of political dissidents” during the previous Awami League regime.

Following the warrants, the army said it took 15 of the 16 officers into military custody but claimed it had not received formal copies of the tribunal orders.

The 16^th officer, a former military secretary to Hasina, remains at large, and steps are being taken to prevent him from going abroad, it said.

Several former army officers and security analysts opined that the production of serving army officers in a civil court under the amended ICT-BD Act, instead of being tried under military law, could affect the morale of the armed forces.

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which emerged as a key political force, last week cautioned the interim government against taking steps that could antagonise the army.

“We (BNP) want you to maintain good relations with the armed forces... we don’t want to take any risks as we cannot afford it,” BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told Yunus during a meeting with political parties.

He said BNP did not want to see the creation of any “imbalance in the armed forces” as “we cannot afford it at this moment” in an apparent reference to the planned general elections in February next year.

The ICT-BD was established in 2010 during Hasina’s government to try hardened collaborators of Pakistani forces in the 1971 Liberation War. The tribunal is now being used to try alleged rights abuses committed during Hasina’s tenure.

Most senior Awami League leaders and prominent figures of the past government are now in jail or in hiding, while party activists continue to stage brief flash protests in Dhaka and other cities despite police crackdowns.

Several such flash marches were held in Dhaka on Tuesday, during which police arrested at least six agitators.