AL leadership issued direct orders authorising serious violations of human rights against protestors, civilians: UN

Highlights:

• DGFI, NSI, NTMC, RAB, DB, BGB, CTTC all involved in human rights violations in July
• Information obtained through surveillance in violation of the right to privacy
• Headquarters of CTTC used to detain many, including children 
• Political leadership issued direct orders authorising serious violations of human rights against protestors and other civilians

The UN has said the political leadership issued direct orders authorising the serious violations of human rights against protestors and other civilians during the July protests.

It also has reasonable grounds to believe that police and paramilitary state security forces resorted to use of "force violations against protesters, including systematic and widespread extrajudicial killings as part of a coordinated strategy of repression", it said today (12 February).

These orders came directly from the top, the findings show.

But, it wasn't without some expressing their worries over it.

"According to senior official testimony, reports provided to the Prime Minister by senior officials on 21 July and in early August specifically conveyed concern about excessive use of force," the UN report says. 

The intelligence services – the Directorate-General of Armed Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) – and the specialised branches of the Police – Detective Branch, Special Branch and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit (CTTC) – engaged directly in perpetrating human rights violations to abet the violent suppression of protests, said the report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 

Its findings showed that these agencies shared intelligence including information obtained through surveillance in violation of the right to privacy, to enable the campaign of mass arbitrary arrest that took place in late July. 

From 18 July onwards, as protests generalised and many protesters sought to disrupt public order by deliberately blocking key roads, the police, RAB and BGB fired military rifles at protesters, while continuing to use shotguns loaded with metal pellets and less-lethal weapons. 

"The police and security forces' unlawful use of force against protesters enraged crowds and fuelled a series of revenge attacks by some elements within the crowds," the report said.

The Detective Branch was pointed out to have routinely resorted to arbitrary detention and torture to extract information and confessions from detainees. 

The headquarters of the CTTC also served as another location where many of those detained arbitrarily, including children, were held. 

It said the Detective Branch and DGFI colluded in the abduction and arbitrary detention of student leaders and sought to coerce them to renounce the protests. 

"The DGFI, NSI and Detective Branch personnel obstructed lifesaving medical care, frequently interrogating patients in hospitals, arresting injured persons and intimidating medical personnel and staff. Neither prosecutorial authorities nor the judiciary took any meaningful action to curb acts and practices of arbitrary detention and torture, or to ensure that any officials perpetrating such acts were held accountable."

It said these intelligent forces also worked together to conceal violations.

"The NTMC worked together with the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to implement ministerial orders imposing strategically timed and targeted Internet shutdowns to prevent protesters from using electronic communications to organize activities, and to limit public access to and the ability to disseminate information on the extent and scale of ongoing violations through Internet and social media."

It said the DGFI, NSI and RAB pressured media outlets not to report fully and truthfully about the mass protests and their violent suppression. 

Victims, too, faced intimidation. 

Both the then prime minister and home affairs minister received regular reports on the ground from multiple sources.