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Aynaghar
Aynaghar ( bn, আয়নাঘর) or House of Horros is the name of a secret detention centre run by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh's defence forces' intelligence branch. Incident On August 14, 2022, Netra News, a Sweden-based independent news portal, published an investigative whistleblower report alleging that Bangladesh officials were detaining and torturing victims of enforced disappearances at Aynaghar (house of mirrors). The Sweden-based news portal also revealed the possible location of the secret prison, where victims of enforced disappearances are believed to be held in Bangladesh. The detailed report by Netra News was based on the on-the-record accounts of two victims of enforced disappearances, Hasinur Rahman and Sheikh Mohammad Salim, who say they were held inside the prison situated in the heart of Dhaka. Photos of the prison cells were also published, which the news site claimed were provided by active-duty military officers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem
Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman ( bn, মীর আহমাদ বিন কাসেম আরমান), also known as Mir Ahmad, is a Bangladeshi born British-trained barrister and human rights activist. He is a victim of Forced disappearance, enforced disappearance and is believed to have been abducted by security forces of the government of Bangladesh. He is the son of late Mir Quasem Ali, a prominent leader of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and was a member of his father's legal defence team before his abduction. According to a recent whistleblower report, it is believed that Mir Ahmad is currently being detained at a Bangladeshi secret detention center known as Aynaghar. Education and Career He completed his Bar Vocational Course (BVC) from City Law School, Inns of Court School of Law (ICSL) and was called to the Bar of England and Wales, becoming Barrister. He had completed his L.L.B (Hons.) from the University of London. At the time of his abduction in 2016, Mir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maruf Zaman
M Maroof Zaman is a former diplomat and the ambassador of Bangladesh to Vietnam. He was a victim of forced disappearance in Bangladesh. He was a former ambassador of Bangladesh to Qatar. Career Zaman was commissioned in Bangladesh Army through the 6th Short Course in 1977. He served in the Signal corps and retired, for health reasons, from Bangladesh Army with the rank of captain. In 1982, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He worked as a minister at the Bangladesh High Commission in the United Kingdom. He served as the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Vietnam. He was Director General in the Foreign Ministry in charge of West Asia, Central Asia, and Africa. In 2004, he was appointed the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Qatar. Forced disappearance On 4 December 2017, Zaman was going to the airport to pick up his daughter. He disappeared on the way to the airport. He later called his home from an unknown number and asked his home staff to provide his laptop to a few men who would come ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Netra News
Netra News ( bn, নেত্র নিউজ) is a Sweden-based investigative and public interest journalism platform focusing on Bangladesh. The platform was launched on Dec. 26, 2019, by Tasneem Khalil, an exiled Bangladeshi journalist currently living in Sweden, who acts as its editor-in chief. Within 72 hours of its inception, the website was blocked by authorities in Bangladesh, with Khalil himself alleging and media reports suggesting that Bangladesh's military intelligence agency, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), orchestrated the ban. On August 14, 2022, Netra news came into international prominence for a whistleblower report alleging that Bangladesh officials were holding and torturing victims of enforced disappearances at Aynaghar(house of mirrors), a secret detention facility in Bangladesh. History ''Netra News'' is run by a grant provided by National Endowment for Democracy, a non-governmental and non-profit organization funded by the U.S. governme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasinur Rahman
Hasinur Rahman Bir Protik is a former Bangladesh Army and Rapid Action Battalion officer. He had the rank of Lieutenant Colonel when he was sacked from the army. He was a victim of forced disappearance in Bangladesh (from August 2018 to February 2020) and had been missing for 16 months. Career Hasinur was commissioned in the 10th long course of Bangladesh Military Academy on June 1984. On 3 January 2004 Hasinur, then a commander in Bangladesh Rifles, seized 40 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. They also seized rocket launchers and chargers after a gunfight with tribal insurgents. Hasinur served as the commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion 5 in Rajshahi. On 3 September 2005, he arrived in Chittagong with two squads of RAB personal from RAB-5 and meet with officials of RAB-7 in Chittagong. He set out with an additional squad from RAB-7 to Naikhongchhari Upazila where they were joined by a team from Bangladesh Rifles. They recovered 20 AK-47 rifles and nearly 8 thousand bul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enforced Disappearances In Bangladesh
Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh are cases in which the Government of Bangladesh directly or indirectly kidnaps people and holds them incommunicado. According to a Dhaka-based human rights group Odhikar, at least 402 people have become victim of enforced disappearance from 2009 to 2017 under the current Awami League administration. These incidents along with extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh has been criticized by The United Nations and human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a special paramilitary unit in Bangladesh, is alleged to be behind most of these disappearances even though RAB claimed these allegations to be false. The current Awami League government denies involvement in these forced disappearances even when victims later surface in custody. According to the report of a domestic human rights organization, 82 people were forcefully disappeared from January to September in 2014. The activists and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Directorate General Of Forces Intelligence
The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence ( bn, প্রতিরক্ষা গোয়েন্দা মহাপরিদপ্তর), commonly known as DGFI, is the military intelligence agency of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, tasked with collection, collation and evaluation of strategic and topographic information, primarily through human intelligence (Human intelligence (intelligence gathering), HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the Bangladesh intelligence community, the DGFI reports to the Director-General and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister, the Cabinet of Bangladesh, and the Bangladesh Armed Forces, Armed Forces of Bangladesh. Formed in 1972 as Directorate of Forces Intelligence, was organised as the principal intelligence arm of the military limited to gathering intelligence pertaining to the Armed Forces. The agency experienced dramatic growth after reorganization in 1977, and tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayer Daak
Mayer Daak (English: ''Mother’s Call'', Bengali: ''মায়ের ডাক'') is a platform of the families of the people who fell victim to enforced disappearance allegedly by government agencies during the rule of the Awami League led government from 2009 to until date in Bangladesh. The platform was launched with the common interest of the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh to learn the fate of their beloved one, who went missing after men in plainclothes posing as law enforcers picked them up from various places of the country. The platform, largely consists of the family members of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders since most of the victims had political affiliation with the party, observes the “International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances” every year in Bangladesh. According to local rights groups, more than 500 people disappeared after being picked up by government agencies since 2009 in Bangladesh. Human Rights ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterterrorism In Bangladesh
Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism. Counterterrorism strategies are a government's motivation to use the instruments of national power to defeat terrorists, the organizations they maintain, and the networks they contain. If definitions of terrorism are part of a broader insurgency, counterterrorism may employ counterinsurgency measures. The United States Armed Forces uses the term foreign internal defense for programs that support other countries' attempts to suppress insurgency, lawlessness, or subversion, or to reduce the conditions under which threats to national security may develop. History The first counter-terrorism body formed was the Special Irish Branch of the Metropolitan Police, later renamed the Special Branch after it expanded its sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Sites
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a crime and have no legal recourse, with no bail or court order." Egypt Black sites are used extensively by the Egyptian security services. During the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) hundreds of protesters alleged that torture occurred at these black sites. The Egyptian security service also operated black sites involved with the CIA’s counter-terror black site program. Russia In Chechnya, gay men have alleged been tortured at black sites by Chechen security forces. Gay men in other parts of Russia have been kidnapped and transported to sites in Chechnya, where over 100 have been tortured, and some killed. Chechen authorities have thwarted attempts by the Russian LGBT Network to help gay people in Chechnya escape to safe locations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Rights In Bangladesh
Human rights in Bangladesh are enshrined as fundamental rights in Part III of the Constitution of Bangladesh. However, constitutional and legal experts believe many of the country's laws require reform to enforce fundamental rights and reflect democratic values of the 21st century. Proposed reforms include strengthening parliamentary supremacy, judicial independence, the separation of powers, repealing laws which restrain freedom of the press and disbanding security agencies which violate civil liberties. Even though Bangladesh has Islam as its state religion and has constitutional references to Hindus, Christians and Buddhists; the political system is modeled as a secular democracy. Governments have generally respected freedom of religion, a cornerstone of the Bangladeshi constitution. However, the police have been slow in responding to and investigating attacks against minorities, opposition activists & supporters and purportedly brutally suppress lawful protest against the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
''The Daily Star'' is a leading Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper. It is the largest circulating daily English-language newspaper in the country. Founded by Syed Mohammed Ali on 14 January 1991, as Bangladesh transitioned and restored parliamentary democracy, the newspaper became popular for its outspoken coverage of politics, corruption and foreign policy. It is considered a newspaper of record for Bangladesh. The newspaper is known for its "reputation for journalistic integrity and liberal and progressive views - a kind of Bangladeshi ''New York Times''". Its slogan is "Journalism Without Fear or Favour". Mahfuz Anam serves as editor and publisher of ''The Daily Star''. Its motto, "Your Right to Know", appears above its logo on the front page. ''The Daily Star'' is owned by Mediaworld, in which a major share is held by the Transcom Group. ''Star Business'' is the business edition of the paper and highly popular. History In the late 1980s, plans for a major English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UN High Commissioner For Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The office was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 1993 in the wake of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. The office is headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who co-ordinates human rights activities throughout the United Nations System and acts as the secretariat of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. The eighth and current High Commissioner is Volker Türk of Austria, who succeeded Michelle Bachelet of Chile on 8 September 2022. In 2018–2019, the department had a budget of $201.6 million (3.7 per cent of the reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
