CAT/C/37/D/227/2003
Page 3
The facts as presented by the author
2.1 The complainant is a sympathizer of the Bangladesh Freedom Party (the BFP) since
1992 and became a member in 1994. In 1995, he was elected as information secretary of the
BFP in the Naria police district. His duties included arranging meetings, putting up posters,
writing slogans, recruiting members, holding speeches and acting against the then governing
party, the Awami League. When the national leaders of his party were arrested and sentenced
for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the then Prime Minister and the
founder of the Awami League, the complainant arranged demonstrations in favour of them
being freed. On 15 August 1997, he was arrested while holding a demonstration in protest
against the Awami League. He was accused of illegal possession of arms, making bombs and
distributing anti-State propaganda. He was taken to a cell at the police station in Naria, held
during 10 days and subjected to maltreatment from which he still suffers. He was released by
paying a bribe.
2.2 The complainant left Naria and went to Dhaka where he stayed with his maternal uncle.
After a few days, members of the Awami League saw him and followed him to his uncle’s
home. On the same night, he saw the police enter through the gate of his uncle’s home, and
he jumped out of a window and took a train to Sylhet, where his sister lives. After a few days,
the police came to his sister’s home with a person from Naria. The complainant managed to
escape and went to the hills in Sylhet.
2.3 In the first week of December 1997, the complainant returned to his home in Naria and
resumed his political activities. He was attacked and maltreated by supporters of the Awami
League, on 9 January 1998, on his way home. His brother then took him to another
residential area where his wife visited him and told him that the police were looking for him
because of accusations made against him, and that the Awami League had also been at his
home to collect money. His wife became pregnant and one month before her delivery, he
moved back to Naria, where he again resumed, in secret, his political activities.
2.4 On the night of 29 June 1999, the police arrested him at home and took him to the
police station. He was accused of possessing illegal arms and explosives, the making of
bombs and anti-State propaganda. This time he remained in custody for 15 days. During this
period, the police struck him with fists and a metal pipe, and kicked him. He was released
after a bribe was paid. Thereafter, he did not dare to stay at home but lived in three different
locations.
2.5 In February 2000, the complainant planned to go back to Sonda by boat but a neighbour
warned him that she had heard how two supporters of the Awami League planned to use
weapons against him in the harbour. He, therefore, returned to Dhaka and after having stayed
there for a while, he left for Khulna.
2.6 In August 2000, he went to India for medical treatment for the problems that he had
because of the maltreatment he had been subjected to in June 1999 – respiratory difficulties
and pain in the back. In October 2000, when he came back to Bangladesh, his family told him
that he was accused of possession of illegal arms and explosives, the making of bombs and
distributing anti-State propaganda. He had also been accused of crimes against the public
order and treason in accordance with the Public Safety Act. During the then Prime Minister’s
visit to Shariatpur district, the police had found explosives in the district and the complainant