Mother of Missing Feni Youth Leader Demands Answers After Twelve Years of Forced Disappearance

FENI — For 68-year-old Roushan Ara, the past 12 years have been defined by a desperate, unanswered search for her son, Mahbubur Rahman, a former member of the Feni municipal Juba Dal convening committee who was allegedly abducted by members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in 2014.

Speaking at a rally organized by the human rights organization Odhikar on Sunday to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Ara recounted the night of March 21, 2014, when armed individuals identifying themselves as RAB officials removed her son from their government residence in the Wapda area of Feni.

Ara told the audience at the Feni District Press Club auditorium that local police refused to file a case following the abduction. Despite subsequent attempts to seek justice through the court system, her son’s fate remains unknown. Carrying a photograph of her son, she stated that she has spent over a decade attending public demonstrations in the hope of finding him, adding that if he is no longer alive, she demands that his perpetrators be brought to justice.

The event, which brought together families of the disappeared and civil society members, was chaired by former Feni Press Club president AKM Abdur Rahim. Several prominent figures addressed the gathering, including former press club presidents Rabiul Haque and Muhammad Abu Taher Bhuiyan, weekly newspaper editor M Mamunur Rashid, and Mohiuddin Khandaker, general secretary of the Bangladesh Primary School Teachers Association.

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Additional speakers included Lion Jafar Ullah, editor N N Jiban, NGO founder Kazi Salauddin, AB Party youth wing leader Ibrahim Sohag, and Juba Dal leader Ahamadul Haque. The rally was moderated by activist Shahjalal Bhuiyan, with the keynote presentation delivered by Jafar Ahmad Bhuiyan of the Odhikar Feni unit.

Following the indoor proceedings, participants held a human chain in front of the press club to demand accountability for enforced disappearances. Among those present were the victim’s brother, Mahfuzur Rahman, and his uncle, Wahidur Rahman, along with other local journalists and veterans.