Commission finds more than 8 secret detention centres

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance has found more than eight secret detention facilities where victims of enforced disappearance were kept.

The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) of police, are among the agencies that would operate these detention centres, finds the commission.

Apart from these detention centers, the victims of enforced disappearance would also be kept with legal detainees.

“Contrary to the perception that the victims were exclusively held in secret cells, interviews with survivors have revealed that many were detained in cells that also housed legal detainees,” said the report.

“This overlap of legal and illegal detainees within the same facilities highlights the complexity of their detention circumstances,” it adds.

This information was revealed in the commission’s interim report.

The commission submitted the report titled 'Unfolding the Truth' to the Chief Adviser at the state guest house Jamuna on Saturday afternoon.

The report said that the commission has so far received 1,676 complaints regarding the disappearances. Out of these, 758 complaints have been verified and sorted out.

The report unveiled a grim picture of how the victims were kept confined in these detention centers without any trace.

“Victims were detained for varying periods, ranging from 48–60 hours to several weeks or months, and in some cases, up to eight years,” the report said.

The commission has been able to map the locations of detention centers through detailed interviews of the living victims.

“In one instance, a victim described a distinctive door in a facility, allowing us to identify a room that had once been subdivided into three cells, even though the partitions were demolished by the time of our visit. Other evidence at the site, which we documented, corroborated the victim's testimony. Furthermore, these interviews also helped us identify the areas within the same facility where legal detainees were kept. This pattern of shifting detainees between unlawful and lawful cells within the same facility is a key focus of our ongoing inquiry.

It underscores the deliberate attempts to disguise illegal detentions and demonstrates the need for further inquiry into these practices,” said the report.

During this reporting period, the commission conducted visits to twelve offices of various security forces in Dhaka and Chittagong. The purpose of these visits was to inspect interrogation rooms, detention facilities, and equipment; gather information and testimony; and meet with senior officials from law enforcement and security forces.

“At the time of our visits, some of these facilities were still intact, while others had been destroyed. To safeguard the integrity of our inquiry, the details of these facilities will be disclosed in a future report,” said the report.

The commission said it visited the following offices: DGFI; CTTC; Detective Branch headquarters, Dhaka Metropolitan Police; Detective Branch, Chittagong Metropolitan Police; RAB units 1, 2, 4, 7, and 11, including RAB 2, CPC 3; RAB forces headquarters; Chittagong Central Jail; and the National Security Intelligence, Chittagong division.