HRW urges Bangladesh on missing case
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Bangladesh government to immediately comply with a High Court order to investigate the alleged disappearance of a fisherman who was last seen in Coast Guard custody, describing it as the country’s first known case of enforced disappearance since the July 2024 mass uprising.
The London based rights organisation in a statement issued on Monday said the authorities should promptly implement the High Court’s July 12 order directing law enforcement agencies to locate 30 year old Miraj Sheikh and produce him before the court within 15 days.
HRW also criticised the government for allowing legal reforms introduced by the interim administration to lapse, warning that the move weakens safeguards against enforced disappearances and limits accountability for security forces.
“Thousands of people were subjected to enforced disappearance during Sheikh Hasina’s 15 year rule, and this latest case shows that without genuine reforms they can happen again,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.
“It is clear that these practices have become entrenched in Bangladeshi security agencies, and the new government, which has pledged reform, should ensure safeguards, institutional reforms, and accountability,” she added.
According to HRW, Miraj Sheikh, a 30 year old fisherman, was allegedly detained by Coast Guard personnel on the night of April 10 near Joymonir Ghol in the Sundarbans area of Mongla. Witnesses reportedly saw officers take him away in a speedboat.
The organisation said Sheikh’s family visited the Coast Guard office in Digraj the following day, where officials initially told them he was “on an operation” before later denying he had ever been in their custody.
HRW said the family subsequently filed complaints with the authorities, organised a press conference and appealed to government officials, but had received no information about Sheikh’s whereabouts.
Following a habeas corpus petition filed by Sheikh’s father, the High Court ordered law enforcement agencies to trace the missing fisherman and produce him before the court within 15 days.
The Coast Guard has denied the allegations. Lt Cmdr Mahbub Hossain, media officer for the Coast Guard’s Western Zone, has repeatedly told local media that the force did not detain Miraj Sheikh and had no information about his whereabouts.
HRW said the case raises concerns that enforced disappearance, which became widespread during the previous Awami League government, could recur without effective institutional reforms.
The rights group noted that Bangladesh acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in August 2024, obliging the country to criminalise, investigate and prosecute such offences.
It also referred to findings of an interim government commission, which documented 1,569 cases of enforced disappearance between 2009 and 2024. According to the commission, 1,282 victims later reappeared after periods of secret detention, while at least 251 remain missing and are presumed dead. The commission described the figures as a substantial undercount.
HRW said the commission implicated several security agencies, including the Detective Branch, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, the Rapid Action Battalion and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, and found evidence of widespread torture in secret detention facilities.
The organisation further criticised the government for allowing the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, 2025, and the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance, 2025, introduced by the interim administration, to expire after the February 2026 election.
According to HRW, the proposed replacement legislation would remove the Human Rights Commission’s authority to independently investigate allegations against security forces, leaving such inquiries primarily to the police while giving the commission only limited powers to seek reports from government agencies.
“The new government should amend its proposed legislation to remove any interference in the Human Rights Commission and to restore its authority to investigate enforced disappearances,” Ganguly said.
“Allowing the police to investigate enforced disappearances will not ensure accountability and will not create the deterrence necessary to bring this practice to an end,” she added.
