Mayer Dak, a platform of families of enforced disappearance victims, on Tuesday submitted formal complaints to the office of the chief prosecutor at the International Crimes Tribunal, about 100 cases of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing.
The complaints allege the involvement of over 60 individuals, including members of law enforcement agencies and politicians of the ousted Awami League government.
Mayer Dak coordinator Mohammad Shishir Manir told reporters at the tribunal compound that the accused include former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 security adviser retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former inspector general of police Mohammad Javed Patwary, former National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre director general retired Major General Ziaul Ahsan, and former Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit chief Monirul Islam.
Another coordinator Sanjida Islam Tuli, along with several victim families, was present during the submission.
She stated that 95 of the 100 victims, including BNP leaders Chowdhury Alam and leader Sajedul Islam Suman, still remained missing. Shishir Manir further claimed that only five of the 100 victims were recovered from secret detention facilities, known as Aynaghar.
鈥榃e have received 100 complaints from Mayer Dak, accusing 60 individuals. The tribunal will thoroughly examine the allegations before taking further action,鈥� said ICT prosecutor Gazi Monowar Hossain Tamim.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on January 9, filed a complaint with the office of the chief prosecutor accusing law enforcement agencies of killing 2,276 of its members in the name of crossfire and forced disappearance of 153 others during the AL regime.
That petition also implicated Sheikh Hasina and law enforcement officials.
According to a source in the ICT investigation agency, they were now investigating 27 cases by merging 190 complaints.
The prosecution, however, is yet to file formal charges in any of the cases.
On January 6, the tribunal issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed, and eight others over their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances during the 15-year AL rule.
The police could arrest only one suspect, out of 12 individuals, against whom tribunal in the first phase issued warrants of arrest for their alleged involvement in incidents of enforced disappearance.
The lone arrested law enforcer member is Ziaul Ahsan.
Besides Ziaul, the other 11 accused include Sheikh Hasina, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Benazir Ahmed, retired Lieutenant Colonel Moksurul Haque and former CTTC chief and deputy inspector general of police Md Asaduzzaman.
Five former directors general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence 鈥� retired Lieutenant General Md Akbar Hossain, retired Major General Md Saiful Abedin, retired Lieutenant General Md Saiful Alam, retired Lieutenant General Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury and retired Major General Hamidul Huq and former Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Bureau director retired Major General Mohammad Towhid-ul-Islam are also facing arrest warrants issued by the ICT on January 6.
The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, in its interim report submitted to the interim government鈥檚 chief adviser on December 14, 2024, established prima facie evidence, accusing Sheikh Hasina, her former security adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique and senior government officials of orchestrating enforced disappearances.
The commission recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances and scrutinised 758 of them. It estimated that the total number of victims could surpass 3,500.
Commission member Sazzad Hossain said that after the scrutiny it was found that 23 per cent of the victims remained missing, while 77 per cent reappeared.
