Victim testifies on inhumane detention conditions and staged militant raids in DGFI-linked trial

A victim of enforced disappearance testified before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Tuesday, providing harrowing details of his confinement in clandestine detention cells operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The witness, Nure Alam, serving as the seventh prosecution witness in a case concerning crimes against humanity at the Joint Interrogation Center (JIC), described being held in an incredibly cramped cell where his legs would reach the toilet while lying down.

Alam, a former student activist with the Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal at Nilphamari Government College, recounted being abducted on the night of April 12, 2016. According to his testimony, he was moved between various facilities, including a restrictive cell at a RAB-10 installation measuring roughly two and a half to three feet in width and six to seven feet in length. He testified that he was eventually transported to another location on November 30, 2016, following an eight-to-ten-hour journey.

The witness detailed an orchestrated “anti-militancy” operation staged by security forces. He claimed that after being held in a residence, captors brought in heavy materials and locked the doors from the inside, while patrol vehicles played sirens and used loudspeakers to create a scene of a high-stakes raid. Alam alleged that then-RAB-7 commander Colonel Miftah Uddin Ahmed arrived at the scene and ordered the detainees to uncover their eyes, revealing an array of weapons, ammunition, and explosives planted to frame them for terrorism.

Following this purported staged operation, the detainees were handed over to the Akbar Shah Police Station and subsequently sent to prison. Alam stated that during a later remand interrogation, Assistant Superintendent of Police Ruhul Amin informed him that his initial abduction and detention had been orchestrated by DGFI and a specialized task force.

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Alam explicitly identified former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her former defense advisor, Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, as being responsible for his ordeal, alongside various officers from the DGFI and RAB. He demanded justice and compensation for the abuses he endured.

The case involves 13 defendants, three of whom—former DGFI directors Major General Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Brigadier General Mahabubur Rahman Siddique, and Brigadier General Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddique—were present in the tribunal on Tuesday.

The remaining 10 suspects, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Tarique Ahmed Siddique, remain at large. Other fugitives in the case include former DGFI directors-general Lieutenant General (retd) Akbar Hossain, Major General (retd) Saiful Abedin, Lieutenant General (retd) Saiful Alam, Lieutenant General (retd) Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury, and Major General (retd) Hamidul Haque, as well as Major General (retd) Mohammad Touhidul Ul Islam, Major General Kabir Ahammed, and Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Mokhshurul Haque.