A culture of cruelty: Enforced disappearances tied to systematic torture

A culture of abuse buried behind locked doors, soundproof walls, and official silence--now beginning to be unearthed.

In a chilling exposé of state-sanctioned brutality, the Commission on Enforced Disappearances has laid bare a pattern of torture and abuse that flourished under the cloak of enforced disappearances during the 15-year rule of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Testimonies gathered by the commission recount detainees being strung from ceilings, subjected to electric shocks during urination, and shackled to bedposts for weeks in clandestine detention centres.

Long suppressed by fear, these harrowing accounts began to surface after the formation of the commission, led by retired High Court Justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury.

On Wednesday at 11am, the panel sumitted its second interim report to Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, who, visibly shaken, remarked: “Such gruesome incidents these are!”

According to the report, detainees described being strung from ceilings, electrocuted during urination, and kept handcuffed to bedposts for weeks in clandestine facilities.

These secret detention centres -- often located inside military compounds or nondescript buildings --operated with full impunity.

The commission has received 1,837 complaints, of which 1,772 have been verified and included as active cases in its database.

Among these, 1,427 victims have reappeared alive, while 345 remain missing to date.

The commission, however, warns the final tally could exceed 3,500 as new complaints continue to arrive.

The findings point to a systematic pattern.

The commission identified a cluster of state agencies as key perpetrators, including the Bangladesh Police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Detective Branch (DB), and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit.

Together, these units account for over 67 percent of the verified disappearance cases.

The report offers a grim panorama of enforced disappearances intertwined with deliberate acts of torture aimed at silencing dissent and instilling fear.

It details how victims were subjected to horrific physical and psychological torment in clandestine detention centres across the country.

The evidence collected underscores a recurring pattern of abuse, where torture was not incidental but methodical and systemic--used as a tool to break down detainees both mentally and physically.

The report reads: “Victims were stripped of identity and humanity, subjected to electric shocks, beatings, and suffocation techniques designed to extract confessions or simply to punish.”

SECRET DETENTION FACILITIES: CENTRES FOR HORROR

Central to the commission’s findings are the hidden detention facilities scattered around the nation, often located within official premises but shielded by secrecy.

The commission said nearly every detention centre it investigated had specialised interrogation rooms equipped with torture devices.

These included pulley systems used to suspend detainees, soundproof chambers, and crude restraints designed to inflict prolonged pain.

“Despite significant efforts to destroy this evidence post-5 August, we were able to uncover traces that aligned with survivor testimonies, such as a rotating chair at RAB 2, CPC 3; the ‘jom tupi’ (head covering) at RAB 4 and DB; and the pulley system used to suspend people at TFI cell,” the report read.

The use of soundproofing was widespread. “In almost every destroyed location, remnants of soundproofing were found, designed to muffle the victims’ screams and prevent them from being heard beyond the room’s walls,” it said.

The report said in some facilities, music was used to mask screams. “For instance, one victim, amongst others, remember ‘While they were beating me, during the beating time they also played songs, playing Hindi songs’,’ it added.

TORTURE AS ROUTINE PROCEDURE

According to the report, survivors recounted forms of torture that were not only brutal but clearly premeditated and systematic.

Victims were blindfolded for days, stripped naked, kept in stress positions for hours, deprived of sleep and food, and subjected to waterboarding, mock executions, and electric shocks to their genitals and feet.

“The moment they clipped the wires to my feet, my whole body felt like it exploded. I smelled something burning. I realised it was me,” one survivor told the commission.

Others spoke of beatings with rubber pipes and batons, deafening noise pumped through rooms, and high-wattage lights directed at their eyes during prolonged interrogations.

In some instances, detainees were forced to watch others being tortured.

One account described a man tied upside down and dunked into a drum of water until he lost consciousness.

Another said he was handcuffed to a metal pipe for 19 consecutive days, unable to sit or sleep.

“Victims were made to kneel for hours in stress positions, beaten if they moved. Water and food were withheld as punishment. Medical attention was routinely denied, even when detainees passed out or bled excessively,” the report read.

GENERALISED DISCOMFORT

The commission said victims were subjected to prolonged discomfort through deprivation, humiliation, and surveillance.

According to the report, male victims were forced to lie over low toilet pans in cells without privacy, exposed to dirt, urine, and faeces, under constant CCTV surveillance.

Female detainees were also denied privacy and in some cases, the right to wear an “Orna”.

One survivor recounted: “They took me to sweat; one person came and said, ‘Who is sweating here?’... They removed all cold blankets and pillows... kept me sitting without a chair... Also, they put a handcuff next to the bed.

“So if I had been a mosquito, I couldn’t have hit it. The mosquitoes bit me... I suffered from that too.”

Another said, “They hung me like that... They kept my hands tied with handcuffs... I couldn’t endure it after many hours. When they tortured me that day, the nail on my finger was lifted off.”

BEATINGS

The commission noted that beatings were a common form of torture used across all centres and often combined with other methods.

Detainees were slapped, punched, caned, electrocuted, and suspended from ceilings.

The commission, quoting the victim’s statement, reported: “One day they beat me again and again, saying ‘Our informer went to your house... Your family is affiliated with Jamaat-BNP... At one point I think I hit a corner of a table... I had to relieve myself standing... In this state, they beat me again’.”

Another survivor said: “Is he dead? See if he’s dead... Then they started using electric shock... One day, they took my finger and pinched it with pliers. Then laid my hand on the table... hammered it with a screwdriver.”

“They tied my legs and hung me upside down... beat me together randomly... blood came out... The scars remained for about one and a half years.”

Others described being caned on joints, hung by hooks from ceilings, beaten on thighs and feet, and shocked while praying.

One said, “They tortured the joints and soles of my feet. Not once, but several times.”

ELECTRIC SHOCK

According to the commission, the administration of electric shocks was the second most common form of torture reported by survivors, used widely across several facilities and even during transport in abduction vehicles.

The report said the devices were often small and portable, making them easily accessible to perpetrators.

One soldier, cited by the commission, recalled his commander referring to a portable device as a “balls machine”, crudely referencing where the shocks would be administered.

The commission said, citing victim testimony: “They applied two clips to my feet... I felt when they gave the shock, my whole body felt like a football exploding... They again applied the same clips to my private two parts... Every time they hit the switch, I felt my private parts were burning... Four to five people beat me totally, from head to toe... all was bruised.”

Another detainee recounted to the commission: “They tied a clip to one hand... I felt a coldness in my head. Then I don’t know anything. When I regained consciousness, it was night.”

The report noted that shocks were often accompanied by beatings and psychological abuse.

One victim told investigators: “They said ‘You are very intelligent, let’s reduce your intelligence’. They shocked me several times like this... I felt I was finishing. My vision would become blurry.”

The commission said some detainees were shocked into unconsciousness, then revived only to face further abuse.

In several accounts, survivors described the torture being repeated over days, leaving permanent damage to their physical and mental health.

WATERBOARDING

While not as commonly used as electric shocks, the commission confirmed that waterboarding was carried out at several detention facilities.

Survivor accounts described a methodical process of physical restraint followed by controlled asphyxiation, designed to instill fear, confusion, and submission.

In one case, the report details how the detainee was bound tightly with bamboo sticks placed under the knees and across the thighs and chest while awaiting the arrival of a senior officer.

“Suddenly someone said ‘Get up’. As soon as they said that, I felt I had no more strength,” he recalled.

The commission highlighted that he endured such extreme strain that “both arms became numb... I couldn’t eat rice with this hand... I could only eat with three fingers.”

According to the commission’s findings, the actual waterboarding began once a cloth was placed over his face and water was poured, cutting off his breathing.

“Water was poured, my breathing stopped,” he said. Despite struggling to answer under duress, the torture continued: “Give me the cloth again, give me the cloth again, give me water again,” the victim recounted.

Interrogators repeated the process several times before saying, “Keep him for later”.

The report noted that this method frequently led to unconsciousness.

The commission underscored that waterboarding, though used less often, had a disproportionately severe psychological impact on victims due to its simulation of drowning and near-death experience.

ROTATING DEVICES

The commission found that security agencies employed at least two types of rotating torture devices at black sites.

These machines --often referred to by victims as “Bash Dola” -- were associated with severe physical and psychological trauma, including vomiting, loss of bowel control, disorientation, and unconsciousness.

According to the report, the first type resembled a chair --described as “normal” in form but heavily outfitted with straps-- used by the RAB and found at the TFI Cell and across multiple RAB battalions.

Victims were bound from head to toe and spun violently for extended periods.

One soldier revealed that the chair at the TFI was “covered in a plastic sheet” to facilitate cleanup due to frequent urination and defecation during torture sessions.

In contrast, the second apparatus --primarily linked to DGFI interrogations at JIC-- was a full-body device capable of nearly 360-degree rotation.

The commission noted that survivors, while often blindfolded, consistently recalled being strapped upright “like a walking model” and rotated in a way that left them feeling their “bones were completely dislocated.”

One detainee described how the machine would “spin backwards” or “tilt the bed”, adding: “The machine itself is a torture.”

In a particularly graphic account cited by the commission, a victim described being rotated in such a chair and then subjected to further interrogation and electric shock threats: “They pulled my legs apart... I felt the torture was very severe. When I thought I could no longer bear it, they stopped.”

Across testimonies, the commission observed a pattern of nighttime interrogations, prolonged restraint, and sustained physical pressure that left some detainees unable to walk or pray for weeks.

Despite differences in the device types, survivors described both as “machines of punishment” intended to break both body and mind.

SEXUALISED TORTURE

The commission documented credible and repeated accounts of torture targeting victims’ genitals, though it acknowledged that such testimonies were more difficult to obtain due to the sensitivity of the abuse.

In one account cited by the commission, a survivor said: “At one point, they applied extreme pain to my testicles, my strength was completely finished.”

According to the report, victims were frequently subjected to electric shocks on their private parts, often while blindfolded, restrained, or during urination.

One detainee, quoted in the report, said: “They gave electric shocks for 15 to 20 minutes. When they stopped… I thought there was no world left.”

The commission also noted threats of permanent harm, including one instance where a survivor recalled being told: “We will make you impotent if you do not tell the truth.”

In another account, a man described the pain as continuing for months and said he had to seek help from his wife due to the lasting injury.

Describing the psychological toll, one survivor recounted: “It was a terrible situation that morning of Eid. I said ‘Somewhere, God has sent me to hell’.

The report emphasised that many victims were left with visible scars and enduring trauma.

ILLUSTRATING THE UNSEEN

To depict the scope of violence endured by victims, the commission commissioned visual illustrations based on interviews with survivors and insiders.

“These illustrations are based on multiple testimonies from both the victims and security force personnel who were present at these sites when the abuses were being perpetrated,” it said.

The recreations aim to visualise the tools and positions used in torture--rotating chairs, stress positions, pulley suspensions--and portray the scenes victims described in harrowing detail.

“These illustrations... serve as a powerful tool to convey the level of sufferings and torture endured by the victims,” the commission said.

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NO TRACES LEFT BEHIND

The commission said enforced disappearance provided the ideal cover for torture, shielding perpetrators from scrutiny or consequence.

“Victims of torture were often held in enforced disappearance during these horrific practices,” the report read.

The lack of legal documentation--no arrest, no court record, no family contact--meant abuse could continue without interruption.

“The uncertainty about whether a victim would ever appear in court or simply vanish from the state’s records facilitated this unchecked abuse,” the commission noted.

In some cases, to avoid detection, victims were kept hidden until their wounds healed.

“During this time, he [a victim] was given ointments to apply to the areas where signs of torture were visible, and they waited until the bruises had faded before allowing him to be seen,” the report said.

SYSTEMIC AND ORGANISED

The report said the torture methods used were consistent across different agencies and years, proving that the abuse was institutionalised.

“This culture was not an anomaly but a normalised practice,” the commission said, pointing to near-identical testimonies from victims detained years apart and in different parts of the country.

It added: “Equipment had to be procured, personnel trained, and methods institutionalised to ensure the continued operation of this system.”

Such an organised system required coordination and budgetary support, which the commission said could only come from high levels of authority.

‘ABUSE ENABLED FROM THE TOP’

The commission pointed to high-level complicity in sustaining the machinery of torture. “A system of torture like this could not have existed without the explicit approval from higher authorities.”

Infrastructure, training, and funding were necessary for such a network to function over years.

“Responsibility for these crimes against humanity cannot rest solely with the perpetrators on the ground; it extends to commanding officers and senior officials who allowed or even encouraged these practices,” the commission said.

EFFECTS ON PSYCHE, FAMILY AND SOCIETY

The commission found that the system of enforced disappearances has cultivated a deep culture of fear, silence, and self-censorship, extending from public spaces into homes.

According to the report, even after release, victims often avoided speaking about their experiences due to fear of further retaliation.

One victim, quoted by the commission, said: “I wasn’t even allowed to talk about my time in detention… My father would say ‘You’ve come out alive—leave it at that’.”

His wife, too, reportedly urged silence, telling relatives: “What will happen will happen… but he must stop talking.”

The commission also included expert medical opinion to highlight the long-term consequences.

Anis Ahmed, a UK-based forensic psychiatrist, emphasised that survivors often suffer from severe psychological distress--including PTSD, anxiety, and emotional numbness.

He warned that trauma can impair memory and communication, noting: “Survivors are not being evasive--trauma has disrupted the brain’s ability to form coherent narratives.”

The report noted Dr Anis’s view that trauma can lead to fragmented memory, flattened affect, and vague or disjointed speech--not as a sign of dishonesty, but as a direct effect of prolonged psychological harm.

He warned that disbelieving survivors or publicly denying their accounts can cause additional trauma.

IMPACT ON DOMESTIC SECURITY

The commission found that the system of enforced disappearance has significantly weakened Bangladesh’s domestic security.

A striking example cited in the report is the case of Subrata Bain, a notorious criminal on Interpol’s “Most Wanted List,” who was secretly held by RAB’s TFI Cell after being handed over through an illegal prisoner exchange with Indian intelligence in April 2022.

In return, Bangladesh secretly transferred one of its own citizens--also detained without charge--to India.

The commission confirmed this transfer through documents and witness accounts, establishing that both men were unlawfully imprisoned without any legal process.

Subrata remained in near-total isolation at TFI for over two years.

“Contrary to rumours circulating online, we have found no indication at all that he was receiving any form of training during his stay at TFI. Instead, he appears to have led a secluded life of captivity,” the report read.

He was quietly released between Aug 6 and 7 in 2024.

The commission reports that, following his release, Subrata “re-established his criminal empire, secured a wealthy patron with strong political connections, and, to the best of our knowledge, resumed ordering killings.”

It added that had Subrata been processed through the courts, “the criminal justice system might have been able to keep him in prison from the beginning.”

Because he was hidden outside the law, “his release could not be lawfully regulated or challenged,” allowing him to regain influence.

“This level of secrecy, illegality, and informal manoeuvring has not strengthened Bangladesh’s domestic security system. In fact, it has likely weakened it,” the commission said.

It noted that enforced disappearance, often defended in the name of national security, has in fact compromised it.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

The commission finds that coerced confessions, often extracted under torture, have severely warped the criminal justice system.

These confessions replace proper investigation and evidence, turning the system from adversarial into accusatorial.

One victim told the commission: “Got bail in five cases from the movement. Now two cases are still ongoing, and in these two cases they beat me and took the Section 164 statement.

“Now it’s very difficult to get bail in these two cases. The bail application is repeatedly being denied.”

Victims also reported judicial complicity in torture.

The report records one statement: “Sir, I told them ‘Even if you kill me, I will not give a 164 statement.’ One of their own came and said ‘He doesn’t want to give a 164, we’ve tried a lot, but he refuses.’ Then that same court’s judge said ‘He’s standing upright, isn’t he? … He doesn’t want to give a 164? So he’s still standing, and healthy. We’ll have to do something to make him ready for the 164, won’t we?’”

The report further details how the former government allegedly used the justice system to intimidate political opponents and activists.

The commission emphasises that when police, prosecutors, or judges fail in duty or act under pressure, justice becomes illusory.

Without transparency and accountability at all stages, the system fails the public and enables repression.

[Writing in English by Sheikh Fariha Bristy]