ICT chief prosecutor calls for accountability over enforced disappearances

Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Mohammad Tajul Islam, has urged justice for enforced disappearances and torture in state-sponsored secret cells during the Awami League's rule, warning that accountability is crucial to prevent such abuses from recurring.

Speaking at the opening of the trial on enforced disappearances and torture in Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) cells yesterday, Tajul Islam said the court seeks not only missing persons and solace for survivors, but also to set a precedent that upholds human rights and deters future crimes. "We are seeking accountability so that heinous acts like enforced disappearances never rise again in Bangladesh," he said.

The trial involves 17 defendants, including former and current military officers, accused of detaining, torturing, and incapacitating opposition figures. The first witness, Barrister Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, who was himself held in enforced disappearance for eight years, testified under a three-member tribunal led by Judge Md Golam Mortuza Majumder. Cross-examination is scheduled for 26 January.

Tajul Islam described the disappearances as a systematic strategy of "Awami fascist statecraft," leaving victims confined for months in dark, windowless cells, creating fear and uncertainty that permeated both society and the state's security apparatus. He stressed that enforced disappearances, recognised internationally as crimes against humanity, harm not only the victims but society as a whole.

Drawing parallels to Latin America's "Dirty War," the prosecutor warned that unchecked state abuses weaken institutions. "If this tribunal ensures justice, the state will learn that under no circumstances can it abduct its citizens," Tajul Islam said, calling for accountability and the protection of humanitarian principles.