"Crossfire"
Subtitle: continued human rights abuses by Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion
By: [written by Henrik Alffram, Meenakshi Ganguly, Tejshree Thapa]
Contributors: Ganguly, Meenakshi; Thapa, Tejshree; Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York, NY, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 53
ISBN-13: 9781564327673
Subjects: Homicide; Human rights; Detention of persons; Torture; Bangladesh. Rapid Action Battalion; Administration of Justice; Police brutality; Bangladesh
Other titles: Continued human rights abuses by Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion
Description: Set up as an elite crime fighting force drawn from the military and police, Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has routinely engaged in extrajudicial killings and torture of people in custody and claiming falsely that they died during an exchange of fire. According to RAB's own figures, the force has gunned down well over 600 alleged criminals since 2004. This report documents the ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by RAB officers in and around Dhaka after the current Awami League-led government came to power. Created by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), RAB was heavily criticized by the Awami League while in opposition. However, after the Awami League took office in January 2009 the killings have continued and no RAB officer has been prosecuted. Government officials have even justified or denied RAB's abuses. Though there may be some within the system urging reform and accountability, RAB continues to operate with impunity. The Bangladesh government should follow through on its commitments and ensure that there are prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into torture and deaths in the custody of RAB. The government should prosecute all former and current members of RAB, of whatever rank, who are found to be responsible for human rights violations.
Notes: "May 2011"--Table of contents p.

"This report was researched and written by Henrik Alffram, consultant to the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director, and Tejshree Thapa, South Asia researcher."--P. 53.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available online.
Table of contents: title: Map of Bangladesh; title: Summary; title: Key Recommendations; title: Methodology; title: I. Killings and Other Cases of Abuse by RAB Since the Awami League Government Came to Power in 2009; title: Killing of Rasal Ahmed Bhutto; title: The Disappearance of Mohammad Rafiqul Islam; title: The Killing of Azad Hussein Pappu and Abdus Sattar; title: The Death of Mohiuddin Arif; title: The Killing of Lutfar and Khairul Khalashi; title: The Torture of F.M. Masum; title: Killing of Kaiser Mahmud Bappi; title: Killing of Moshin Sheikh and Ali Jinnah; title: II. RAB Impunity: The Failure to Punish Human Rights Abuses; title: III. Concerns about RAB Expressed by Civil Society Actors and Others; title: IV. International Cooperation; title: Recommendations; title: To the Bangladesh Government; title: To the National Human Rights Commission; title: To the Chief Justice; title: To Bangladesh's Bilateral and Multilateral Donors; title: To the US Government; title: To the United Nations; title: Appendix I: Letter to Home Minister Sahara Khatun, April 22, 2010; title: Appendix II: Letter to Home Minister Sahara Khatun, copying RAB Director General, Mukhlesur Rahman, October 27, 2010; title: Acknowledgments.