15 current and former Bangladesh army officers taken into custody over crimes against humanity

Bangladesh takes 15 serving and former army officers into military custody

Fifteen army officers, both serving and retired, against whom arrest warrants were issued for alleged involvement in "disappearances and crimes against humanity" during Sheikh Hasina's tenure, have been taken into military custody."

15 former and current army officers accused of crimes against humanity have been taken into military custody," Major General Md Hakimuzzaman, Adjutant General of the Bangladesh Army, told reporters on Saturday.

He added that the Bangladesh Army would "fully support" the ongoing legal process. Earlier, on October 8, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued warrants against 30 accused, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in two separate cases related to crimes against humanity committed through enforced disappearances during the Awami League regime.

The ICT ordered that the accused be arrested and produced in court by October 22. The three-member bench of the tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, passed the order on Wednesday.

Apart from Hasina, arrest warrants were also issued against former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, retired Major General Tariq Ahmed Siddique, who served as the former Prime Minister's defence adviser, and former police chief Benzir Ahmed. Twenty-seven of the remaining defendants are former or serving army officers.

The prosecution filed two formal complaints of enforced disappearance with the ICT. Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam presented both complaints to the tribunal and sought the issuance of arrest warrants, which were subsequently granted.

In one case, 17 people, including Hasina and her adviser Tariq Ahmed Siddique, have been charged with abducting opposition activists and detaining them at the secret Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) cell, allegedly operated by the Rapid Action Battalion, where victims were reportedly tortured.

The prosecution has brought five charges of crimes against humanity in this case.

In the second case, Sheikh Hasina, Tariq Siddique, and 11 others have been charged with detaining victims at the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence's (DGFI) Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) and torturing them.

This case also includes five charges of crimes against humanity and names five former DGFI directors general among the accused.