US hopes Bangladesh will examine allegations against RAB

The US has hoped that the government of Bangladesh would examine the allegations brought against Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a documentary aired and an article published by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

"I'm not going to preview any actions from up here. But we will examine the allegations in this article and video very carefully, and we hope the Bangladesh government will do the same," said Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State.

The perpetrators of human rights should be held accountable, the US Embassy in Dhaka quoted Patel as saying.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Seheli Sabrin has said RAB keeps working for the interest of the country's security and it is not being used for any political purpose.

"For years, the United States and other Western countries played an important role in training and equipping the force – despite allegations of widespread human rights violations. It would take until 2018 for the US to stop funding RAB, followed by sanctions in late 2021," DW wrote in the video description of its documentary "How the elite police force RAB terrorises the people of Bangladesh" published on YouTube on  3 April.

"Now, for the first time ever, two insiders of Bangladesh's elite force claim how RAB systematically and with explicit backing from the highest political level has been committing murder, torture, and abductions."

The DW article "Death Squad: Inside Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion" published the same day said: "Bangladesh's elite counterterrorism force is committing extrajudicial killings, DW and Netra News reveal in a new investigation."

"Each operation is carefully planned, sometimes for months, and the target's every move is analysed and monitored by one of 15 units inside Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Victims are usually picked up late at night and whisked away to the special police force's facilities."