'25 detainees forced to share a single toothbrush': Horrors of 'Aynaghar' under scrutiny at ICT
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina from office, 26 former detainees revisited the cells with investigators, helping to pinpoint exact locations using wall markings and other physical evidence
In the notorious "Aynaghar" torture cells, dozens of detainees were crammed together in suffocating darkness. In some cases, 25 prisoners were forced to share a single toothbrush and had to use a filthy towel hung outside the bathroom as their only means to wash hands and faces, leaving them to suffer agonising skin rashes, eye infections, and other debilitating ailments.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam delivered this chilling account before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 today (7 December), exposing the brutal reality of the DGFI's secret detention facility.
Tajul Islam painted a harrowing picture of the cells themselves: claustrophobic, windowless chambers shrouded in pitch-black darkness, enclosed with thick iron grills that made escape impossible. "There was no light, no ventilation, only unbearable, deafening noise," he told the tribunal. Exhaust fans roared constantly to drown out the call to prayer, while loud music blared from sound boxes, deliberately disorienting the detainees.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The chief prosecutor explained that the cells were designed to strip prisoners of any sense of time and place. Yet, despite these measures, detainees could occasionally identify their location through faint sounds from nearby mosques — the call to prayer, Friday sermons, or funeral announcements. "These conditions were intended to dehumanise, to strip them of their dignity, and to isolate them from the world," he said.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina from office, 26 former detainees revisited the cells with investigators, helping to pinpoint exact locations using wall markings and other physical evidence. Video recordings of the cells have been submitted to the tribunal as key evidence, reinforcing the prosecution's claim of systematic abuse.
The case targets 13 former and current military officials, including Sheikh Hasina, over enforced disappearances and crimes against humanity carried out in the notorious Aynaghar at the DGFI headquarters in Dhaka. Three military officials — former DGFI director Maj Gen Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Brig Gen Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui, and Brig Gen Ahmed Tanvir Majahar Siddiqui — were presented in court under heavy security from the Dhaka Cantonment special prison, while other accused, including former advisers and DGs of DGFI, remain fugitives.
Prisoners were reportedly confined in groups of 20–25 at all times, enduring conditions so inhumane that the prosecution argues they constitute crimes against humanity.
The tribunal has scheduled the next hearing for tomorrow, when both the state prosecution and the defence are expected to present their arguments. Proceedings are expected to continue revealing the full extent of torture, enforced disappearances, and human rights violations carried out over a 15-year period in one of Bangladesh's darkest political chapters.
