One year after the July Revolution, Bangladesh’s Interim Government should urgently act to provide meaningful redress to victims of enforced disappearances and other abuses and engage in security sector reform.

For eight years, a lawyer named Mir Ahmad BinQuasem, known as Arman, was held by Bangladesh security forces in a secret detention site. In a windowless cell, he endured unimaginable suffering over the long years–extreme isolation, freezing cold and sweltering heat, and the screams of other prisoners. Arman was shackled and blindfolded for most of his detention and endured each hour without knowing whether he would ever see his family again.  

Arman’s case is just one of approximately 1,800 enforced disappearances that occurred under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that are now being investigated by Bangladesh’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. Since the Commission’s establishment in August 2024 after the fall of Hasina’s government, it has uncovered at least 16 secret detention sites, including the location where Arman had been held. 

In May 2025, Arman and a member of the Commission showed our team, led by Kerry Kennedy, the site where Arman was secretly detained all those years. The site was run by the intelligence wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a specialized police unit with a long track record of committing enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture. Known as the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell, the clandestine site was located in the RAB-1 compound in Dhaka, just across from Bangladesh’s busiest international airport. RAB officers accompanied us on the visit, carrying large flashlights to illuminate the dark site.     

Within the RAB-1 base, the TFI site was only a few steps from a comfortable RAB office building. Inside were cramped, dark cells and interrogation rooms in which victims were subjected to physical and mental torture. According to accounts from interviews by the Commission, victims were subjected to physical torture that included being beaten, hung from the ceiling, and electrocuted. Victims held in cells were handcuffed and blindfolded. One cell under a staircase was so small a victim could not stand up or fully lie down. The Commission estimates RAB held thousands of victims at the TFI site over the years, many of whom were extrajudicially killed.

Arman’s windowless cell was up the stairs and half covered in loose stones and other building debris. The cell was completely dark without the help of flashlights. The May heat was so oppressive in the cell that it was easy to feel faint during our short visit. But this was Arman’s reality for 8 years. 

Arman was targeted by Hasina’s government for being the son of Mir Quasem Ali, a prominent leader in the opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami who was prosecuted in an unfair trial by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for alleged crimes during the 1971 War of Independence. As a barrister and an Advocate of the Supreme Court, Arman was part of his father’s criminal defense team. Arman’s father was executed just three weeks after Arman was disappeared.  

On August 9, 2016, a group of plainclothes officers abducted Arman from his home. Despite his request to see an arrest warrant, he was dragged into a van while his family watched. He was taken to one detention site for sixteen days before being transferred to the dark cell at the RAB-1 base where he was held for the remainder of his eight-year enforced disappearance. For all those years, the government denied Arman’s family information and made no formal acknowledgement of his whereabouts.

The Role of RAB and Other Security Forces in Disappearances

The Commission has found Sheikh Hasina and top leaders in the Awami League government used security forces such as RAB as tools of political repression to target political opponents, activists, and other perceived critics. Arman’s case is consistent with a pattern of disappearances perpetrated by RAB and other specialized police units–Detective Branch (DB) and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC)–as well as the military intelligence agency, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). Some victims of disappearances were held for short periods before being brought to face criminal charges, while others were detained for years in secret sites or killed. According to the Commission, these security agencies collaborated to perpetrate disappearances and sometimes transferred victims between their detention sites. 

In 2022, an investigative report of Netra News exposed DGFI’s Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) in Dhaka, known as Aynaghar (“House of Mirrors”), where other targets of the Hasina government were disappeared. High-profile victims included two other men–Humam Quader Chowdhury and Abdullahil Amaan Azmi–who, like Arman, were sons of prominent opposition leaders convicted in unfair trials by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. 

Under Hasina’s government, civil society organizations reported 708 enforced disappearances and 2,597 extrajudicial killings, with RAB involved in at least 200 enforced disappearances and 800 extrajudicial killings. Established in 2004 as a paramilitary unit of the police that includes officers seconded from the military, RAB forces initially received counterterrorism training from the U.S. and U.K. RAB developed a track record of committing politically-driven extrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances under the pretext of counterterrorism and fighting illicit narcotics. Many of the extrajudicial killings committed by RAB were under a purported “war on drugs,” with perpetrators often claiming victims were killed in “crossfire.” A marked increase in disappearances occurred prior to the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections. By 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on RAB as a unit and on six RAB officers for serious human rights abuses, and the U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on two RAB officers.

During the student-led protests in July 2024 that ousted the government, Hasina and top leaders used security forces, including RAB, Detective Branch, and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, to violently crack down on protesters. The U.N.’s February 2025 fact-finding report found a pattern of RAB and the police “indiscriminately and extensively” firing upon crowds of peaceful protestors with lethal force. The U.N. concluded that up to 1,400 people died by the time Hasina left the country on August 5, 2024.

Challenges of Truth and Accountability for Disappearances

Immediately following the fall of Hasina’s government, Arman and a few others were released from RAB and DGFI secret detention sites. Among the early actions of the newly formed Interim Government, led by Nobel Peace laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as Chief Adviser, was to establish the Commission to investigate enforced disappearances and accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. In the following months, survivors of disappearances, such as Arman, and the families of victims started coming forward to report their cases to the Commission in the first opportunity for truth and accountability in years. By June 2025, the Commission reported that it had received over 1,830 complaints. Of the 1,772 “active” cases of enforced disappearance, there were survivors identified in 1,427 cases, while 345 are still missing. 

The Commission has played a vital role in uncovering the locations of the secret detention sites, such as the TFI cell at the RAB-1 compound, through the critical testimony of survivors like Arman who are willing to speak out. During our visit to the RAB-1 site, Arman explained that he could hear planes landing from his cell, which enabled him to tell the Commission he was held in a site near an airport. He also distinctly recalled the unique sound of the heavy door closing in the gate surrounding the TFI cell, which helped him confirm he was detained at the RAB-1 compound.

When the Commission inspected the secret sites run by RAB and DGFI, it found new and sometimes conspicuous attempts to destroy or conceal evidence of the clandestine detentions. At the RAB-1 site, Arman’s cell had been hidden behind a wall that could only have been erected after he was released in early August. The Commission found another newly-built brick wall that concealed a narrow hallway with cells so cramped that victims could not lie down or extend their arms. In some of these tiny cells and other places throughout the site, walls had been knocked down in an attempt to enlarge cramped spaces. When our team asked who destroyed evidence, a Commission member explained that “Nobody is telling anything.” 

The Interim Government has also taken steps to pursue justice for the crimes committed over the past fifteen years by providing a new mandate to Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), the tribunal that convicted Arman’s father. Originally established by Hasina’s government in 2010 to prosecute war crimes perpetrated during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the Tribunal was criticized for holding hasty, unfair trials that resulted in executions. The Interim Government has amended the ICT Act, and despite key improvements, further reforms are needed to ensure full adherence to international standards for fair trials and due process. Notably, the ICT retains the authority to impose the death penalty. In July 2025, the ICT indicted Sheikh Hasina for crimes against humanity related to the killing of protesters in 2024 and scheduled the trial to begin in absentia in early August. 

In December 2024, the Director General (DG) of RAB Shahidur Rahman, who was appointed last August, issued an apology for enforced disappearances, murders, and abductions carried out by RAB. DG Rahman stated that RAB would “not engage in crimes like enforced disappearances or murders no matter who gives the orders.” Sanjida Islam Tulee, co-founder of Maayer Daak, a Bangladeshi organization that supports families of those forcibly disappeared, stated that an apology was insufficient. “We believe seeking pardon is a tactic that can mislead the general public. Until justice is ensured, we will not back down from our demands,” Maayer Daak’s statement read.

When our team met with Maayer Daak in Dhaka, Sanjida Islam Tulee and her family–along with more than three dozen other families–shared stories of anguish about the disappearances of their sons, brothers, fathers, and other family members. Several survivors also recounted the grave abuses they suffered. Despite the serious risks from speaking out, these mothers, fathers, siblings, and children have spent years fighting for answers about the fate of their family members and justice for these crimes. But with little new information about their cases, many feel the ICT and Commission on Enforced Disappearances have not done enough to pursue truth and justice, particularly after victims and their families have taken on the continued risk and burden of sharing their testimonies. 

Without an established system of victim and witness protection, many victims remain fearful of engaging with the ICT and Commission on Enforced Disappearances. According to experts from the U.N. Working Group of Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, who recently visited Bangladesh, victims expressed worry that those involved in crimes still hold positions in security forces and may be present in the buildings where they are asked to provide testimony. The Working Group experts also stated concerns that the Army is not cooperating with investigations, and some high-profile members of the armed forces under arrest warrants were allowed to abscond abroad. Both the ICT and Commission members face threats for their work and operate under resource and staffing constraints.

Recommendations for Truth, Justice, and Reform

With many challenges to accountability and limited time before the elections in 2026, the Interim Government should push forward urgently to ensure justice in line with international standards and reforms to the security sector. Victims need truth and justice processes that provide for meaningful participation without fear of reprisal. As the Working Group recommended, all efforts “must place victims at the center.” This should include inclusive participation and consultation processes by the Commission and the ICT so that victims understand the institutions’ mandates, have the opportunity to provide input, and are kept updated on progress and outcomes. Bangladesh should enact a comprehensive witness and victim protection law so that individuals can engage with these mechanisms without fear. Any politically motivated criminal cases against victims that are still pending should be dismissed. 

While the Interim Government recently extended the Commission’s mandate until December 2025, the Commission should continue past this date if needed to complete its investigations. The Commission must have adequate staffing and resources to effectively fulfil its mandate and be able to operate without fear of intimidation. Security forces should fully cooperate with the Commission by guaranteeing unfettered access to all detention sites, turning over all relevant records, and participating in good faith in any interviews with the Commission. 

The Interim Government recently approved a proposal to accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which will provide a mechanism for regular monitoring visits to detention sites, but it must ensure the accession process is finalized. While the Interim Government took an important step by drafting an ordinance to hold perpetrators accountable for enforced disappearances, the draft requires significant changes following robust public consultations to ensure its adherence to international standards.

But without broader security sector reform, and while perpetrators remain in their positions, there is little chance for comprehensive and meaningful transitional justice. The Interim Government should fully disband RAB, as recommended by the Commission, the Working Group experts, and the U.N. fact-finding report. The longstanding weaponization of RAB and its deep culture of impunity have put the unit utterly beyond reform. All military personnel should be removed from civilian law enforcement to ensure a break with the past and the development of rights-respecting security institutions. DGFI–which collaborated in disappearances and ran the notorious Aynaghar detention site–should have its legal authority, functions, and resources strictly limited to the role of military intelligence, as the Working Group recently recommended. 

Finally, the Interim Government should establish fair, transparent, and independent vetting processes of all security forces to remove those who perpetrated human rights abuses from their positions. Rigorous vetting processes are essential to advance accountability and restore public trust. As Bangladesh is a top contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions, the Interim Government in coordination with the U.N. Department of Peace Operations should immediately suspend from missions all current and former members of units facing credible allegations of abuse, including RAB, DGFI, and others identified by the Commission and U.N. fact-finding report, pending the establishment of vetting processes. 

Victims and their families are desperately seeking truth and accountability for the crimes committed by Hasina’s government over the last fifteen years. The Interim Government should urgently implement these recommendations to ensure meaningful redress for victims and reform security institutions to prevent future abuses.