Bangladesh accused of extrajudicial killings

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh’s leading human rights group on Wednesday accused security forces of carrying out at least 50 extrajudicial killings since the start of emergency rule two months ago.

“The 50 died as a result of actions taken by law enforcement agencies,” the group, Odhikar, said in a statement, adding that the figures were based on media reports and its own investigations.

“Of the 50, at least 26 persons were killed as a result of the activities of the Rapid Action Battalion, 12 by police, six by the army, five by joint forces and one by the navy,” it said.

Odhikar said the deaths were the result of “torture” in custody or so-called “crossfire” incidents, and called for an independent inquiry into each one.

Authorities say crossfire deaths occur when suspects resist arrest and officers act in self defence, or during escape attempts. In the past, they have not disputed the deaths but have rejected accusations that they were extrajudicial killings.

Rights groups, however, suspect that notorious criminals who had previously operated in an atmosphere of impunity have been singled out and eliminated.

“The Odhikar figures show that the extra-judicial killings are still continuing in Bangladesh,” Odhikar’s acting director, Nasiruddin Elan, told AFP.

In January 2006, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said an estimated 300 people had been killed in custody over the previous six months.

Dhaka, Thursday, AFP