Former Bangladesh ambassador to Vietnam, Maroof Zaman, on Sunday filed a complaint with the chief prosecutor鈥檚 office of the International Crimes Tribunal accusing deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her security adviser Major General (Retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, the then army chief and their associates of orchestrating his enforced disappearance.
The former ambassador also accused them of holding him in a secret detention center inside Dhaka Cantonmment for 467 days since December 4, 2017.
Speaking to reporters at the tribunal compound in the capital, Maroof recounted that he was abducted by armed personnel from the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence on December 4, 2017, while he was on his way to Dhaka airport to pick up his daughter.
He returned home at the night following March 16, 2019, after enduring what he described as inhumane torture at the DGFI Joint Interrogation Cell in the Dhaka Cantonment area in the capital鈥檚 Kachukhet.
鈥業 was abducted at gunpoint by DGFI members and subjected to brutal torture due to my anti-India stance and my writings as a diplomat, which exposed Hasina鈥檚 misdeeds, including murders, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and controversial treaties between Bangladesh and India,鈥� Maroof added.
He further claimed that Sheikh Hasina, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and the then army chief were directly involved in his detention.
鈥業 will disclose more details to the tribunal if required,鈥� he added.
Rights activists, including Odhikar director ASM Nasiruddin Elan and its senior researcher and writer Taskin Fahmina, were present when Maroof submitted his complaint.
A former army captain, Maroof Zaman later served as an additional secretary at the foreign ministry. He retired from his job in September 2009.
He also held the position of deputy high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
On February 25, Mayer Dak, a platform representing families of enforced disappearance victims, submitted a complaint to the Office of the Chief Prosecutor, listing 100 cases of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
The accused include Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former inspector general of police Mohammad Javed Patwary, former National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre director general major general (retired) Ziaul Ahsan, and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit chief Monirul Islam.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on January 9 filed a complaint with the chief prosecutor鈥檚 office accusing Sheikh Hasina and official of the law enforcement agencies of killing 2,276 of its members in 鈥榗rossfire鈥� incidents and forcibly disappearing 153 others during the Awami League regime.
According to a source in the ICT鈥檚 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 AL regime.
Meanwhile, the tribunal extended the deadline for submitting the investigation report in the crimes against humanity case against former Dhaka North City Corporation mayor Atiqul Islam and nine of his associates. The new deadline is set for May 12.
Atiqul and nine other accused including Gazipur Awami League leaders and police officers were produced before the tribunal amid tight security.
