NHRC demands comprehensive report on ‘AYNAGHAR’

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Staff Reporter :

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed deep concern and has initiated suo moto proceedings regarding the ‘Aynaghar’ issue.

The Commission has also demanded a full disclosure of information about Aynaghar, including its operational details, the identities of detained individuals, their legal status, and the motivations behind the establishment of the facility.

In a press release issued on August 22, 2024, the NHRC stated that they have requested the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide a detailed report on the current state of Aynaghar.

This report should cover various aspects, including the facility’s management, the identities and number of detainees, the legal grounds for their detention, and the individuals or entities responsible for its creation.

The NHRC highlighted that due to the limitations of Section 18 of the National Human Rights Commission Act of 2009, the Commission itself is unable to conduct independent investigations and must rely on government-provided reports. This legal restriction leaves the Commission in a somewhat helpless position, which it believes urgently needs reform.

Additionally, the NHRC has called for immediate measures to release any remaining detainees from the facility and for legal action against those responsible for establishing Aynaghar. The Senior Secretary of the Public Security Division within the Ministry of Home Affairs has been asked to submit a report on these matters by September 25, 2024.

The case gained significant attention after Michael Chakma, an organizer of the United Peoples’ Democratic Front (UPDF), was abducted from Shyamoli in the capital on April 9, 2019. He was held in a secret detention facility known as Aynaghar for over five years. Following his release on August 6, 2024, Chakma learned of his father’s death and that his family had conducted his funeral, believing him to be deceased.

The NHRC’s demand for a thorough report underscores the ongoing concerns about human rights violations and the need for transparency and accountability in such cases.

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Sheikh Hasina’s regime was known for forced disappearances and torture of political opponents.
At least 100 people still remain missing. One of the mysterious dens of custody and torture was Aynaghar or ‘House of Mirrors’ in Dhaka Cantonment. After Hasina’s fall, the focus has shifted to Aynaghar and its prisoners.

On August 21, 2016, Barrister Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, was going about his day when he was arrested from his home in Mirpur, Dhaka. Two days later, former Brigadier General Abdullahil Aman Azmi was taken away by law enforcement officials for crimes against humanity in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Both these men ended up in Aynaghar, the House of Mirrors, a secret prison in Bangladesh under the Sheikh Hasina government.
Both Arman and Azmi were released on August 6, reported the Daily Observer, Bangladesh. For 8 long years, they were held as prisoners in the worst conditions without any trial.

Hasina’s regime fell as she escaped from the country on August 5, and now the focus is on a mysterious prison centre in Bangladesh — Aynaghar or Aynaghor.

WHAT IS AYNAGHAR?
The Hasina regime was known for sudden disappearances and harsh treatment of political opponents.
There are 23 other secret detention centres, with some of them in Dhaka itself, according to reports. One of the mysterious places where prisoners end up is Aynaghar or House of Mirrors in Dhaka Cantonment.
Aynaghar is reportedly run by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency.

It is believed that not just political prisoners, the Aynaghar facility was used to detain extremists too.
According to a Human Rights Watch report in 2024, Bangladeshi forces have carried out over 600 enforced disappearances since 2009, the year Sheikh Hasina came to power.

Some prisoners were released, others produced in court. Many even died during an armed exchange with security forces. The Hasina government had refused to take the United Nations’ help to investigate enforced disappearances.

Allegations of torture are seldom investigated in Bangladesh.
Over 100 people still remain missing.

In 2022, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the party’s acting chairman and ex-PM Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, was also a victim of Aynaghar. Rahman, who later shifted to London, is planning to return to Bangladesh.