Odhikar report challenges 'crossfire' killings
Fri, Aug 8th, 2008 9:55 pm BdST
Dhaka, August 8 (bdnews24.com) — The recent deaths of militant outfit leader Abdur Rashid Malitha, also known as Dada Tapan, his companion Nasima Aktar Rikta and JCD leader Moshiul Alam Sentu did not occur during any 'shootouts' or 'exchanges of gunfire', as RAB and police have claimed, says rights body Odhikar.
In a probe report, published Thursday and quoting 'eye-witnesses' and relatives, the human rights watchdog concluded members of the Rapid Action Battalion killed them purposely.
Sentu's as.
The mother of Sentu, president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Barisal city unit, was quoted as saying saying that an army officer had tipped her off that her son was in the line of fire, whereupon she had bribed the officer Tk 3 lakh to save her son.
bdnews24.com attempted to contact the army officer named by Sentu's mother, but to no avail.
However, Rab additional director general Col Gulzar Ahmed told bdnews24.cm: "We have already issued official clarifications on these three deaths. There is nothing else to say about the matter."
Tapan's brother speaks before his own death
Leader of the outlawed 'Janajuddho', 48 year-old Dada Tapan, and his companion Rikta, were killed on June 18 in Baradi village, Kushtia.
Shortly after the incident, RAB gave a statement claiming that the two died in a 'shootout' between RAB personnel and members of the outlawed group.
RAB gave a similar statement after the death of Sentu.
Tapan's brother Golam Hossain Akash had rejected RAB's statement to Odhikar, shortly before he died in similar circumstances.
"RAB personnel raided Tapan's house at dawn and shot him dead at close range," Odhikar quoted Akash as saying.
"They shot Rikta in the head and feet who was also in the house, leaving her dead at the scene.
Akash—who himself died some days later in an alleged 'exchange of fire'—alleged to Odhikar, during his detention before his own death, that RAB personnel picked him up on June 18 and tortured him brutally.
"Rab personnel knocked my door around 2.00am. As I opened the door, they kicked me hard and I fell on the ground. They hit me in the ribs with the gun barrel and finally their booted feet trampled and broke my left leg," Akash told Odhikar through the medium of a court inspector, the report said.
Akash admitted that Tapan would often leave arms, banned political pamphlets and other illegal goods in his care.
Azmeri Ferdousi Akhi, wife of Akash, told Odhikaar that Akash had handed over a pistol, 1,500 bullets, around 5,000 monthly bulletins of Janajuddho and a computer to RAB after facing torture.
Akhi said her husband had given her the news that RAB personnel shot Tapan and Rikta.
Aleya Begum, mother of Rikta, said her daughter was involved in the business of readymade garments and sarees. She had been living with two more girls in Kushtia.
There was no case against her with any police station, Rikta's mother said, adding her daughter's body bore bullet wounds to the head and feet.
Ansar Ali, a village policeman, said Rikta's dead body also bore evidence of struggles with her persecutors.
Tapan had six bullet injuries in the chest and left arm, Ali said.
Kushtia Sadar police chief Babul Uddin Sardar told Odhikar on Rikta's death: "Well, at times it happens like that…ten innocent people might get killed while we try to nab one notorious terrorist."
Odhikar quoted captain Mahmud of Rab-12 as saying, "Rab had to get to Tapan at any cost. We had no way out but to kill 10 innocent men in the process."
JCD leader Sentu's story
Sentu's mother told Odhikar that Major Mamun of RAB-8 in Barisal had informed her, through an intermediary named 'Sultan', that Sentu would be killed in a 'shootout'.
She then paid Mamun Tk 3 lakh through the same intermediary, around June 20, but could not save her son.
Syed Manzurul Islam, who studies political science at Dhaka University, said he was with Sentu when the JCD leader was arrested on July 15.
Manzurul said RAB members shot Sentu in the leg as soon as he got down from a rickshaw near Nilkhet, before his arrest.
Morzina Begum, a resident of Bilwobari area of Kashipur in Barisal, where Sentu was allegedly killed, told Odhikar that she had witnessed the killing of Sentu on July 16.
Morzina said she had seen up to 15 RAB members and three vehicles standing near her home in the early morning.
She heard up to three shots and saw five RAB members taking something out of a car, carrying it to a paddy field, firing further some gunshots and returning from the field, Odhikar said in its report.
Morzina went to the field with a pitcher pretending to fetch water and saw a dead body.
RAB personnel asked her if she knew the dead man. As she replied no, they told her that it was Sentu.
"When I first saw the body, there were no weapons lying beside Sentu's body. But later, the RAB men placed a number of arms beside the body," Morzina was quoted as saying by Odhikar.
Odhikar quoted other villagers, including retired army officer 'Mahtab', who had claimed to have witnessed the incident.
Mahtab said: "It was apparent that all the bullets were fired at very close range. His neck bore signs of brutal mauling and the left arm looked fractured."
Sub-inspector Swapon, of Barisal Kotwali Police Station, in an initial inspection report on Sentu's corpse said: "Two bullets pierced Sentu's chest and rifled out through his back and another bullet entered his thigh muscles and remained there."
source:
Odhikar challenges RAB 'crossfire' deaths
Bangladesh News 24 hours (subscription), Bangladesh - 52 minutes ago
Morzina Begum, a resident of Bilwobari area of Kashipur in Barisal, where Sentu was allegedly killed, told Odhikar that she had witnessed the killing of ...
Bangladesh News 24 hours (subscription), Bangladesh - 52 minutes ago
Morzina Begum, a resident of Bilwobari area of Kashipur in Barisal, where Sentu was allegedly killed, told Odhikar that she had witnessed the killing of ...
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