RAB notoriety on Bangladeshi journalist
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
November 19, 2009
A fellow journalist with Dhaka´s prominent English language daily was picked up by the notorious members of infamous Rapid Action Battalion [RAB], tortured in custody and finally released after repeated intervention of the Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun and the Home Secretary.
According to The New Age, where F M Masum works as a staff correspondent, was picked up by the members of RAB´s unit number 10, and was severly tortured and detained illegally for more than ten hours. On October 22, 2009 [Thursday] members of RAB picked Masum up from his rented house at Jatrabari in Dhaka at noon.
According to Masum and spot accounts, a battalion team raided the house at 67, Dakshin Jatrabai, where Masum lives as a tenant, at noon for alleged involvement of the landlord in drug peddling. The battalion personnel also knocked on the door of Masum's flat.
As soon as Masum opened the door, the battalion personnel slapped him, accusing him of being late in opening the door.
They started torturing Masum severely as he told them of his identity, according to spot accounts.
Torturing him in public on the spot, the battalion men rubbed salt in the wounds and took him to the RAB 10 headquarters at Dhalpur.
At the RAB office, they tortured me inhumanly saying, "We are taking our anger at Nurul Kabir [New Age editor] out on you",' Masum said in the hospital.
Soon after Masum's detention, different battalion officers came up with different stories as reason for the detention. Some of them claimed Masum was found in possession of Pethedine, some said with Phensidyl [Codeine] syrup while some others said they found him with prostitutes.
The battalion, when Masum was released, finally said they had picked him up for not cooperating with the law enforcement agency. The battalion reportedly requested several media houses not to run or print any report on the incident.
The battalion released Masum after the New Age people had to sign an undertaking in which it was written that he had been picked up and was being handed over to his colleagues 'in good health.'
He had marks of injury all over the body and his feet were swollen when he was released. Physicians in Dhaka Medical College Hospital advised a CT scan, which was later done.
Masum also said the battalion personnel had videoed arranged sequences of seizure of drug substances from his room. He was also videoed along with the wife of the owner of the house, he said.
Masum, who received his master's degree in mass communication and journalism department in Dhaka University, earlier worked with the Bangladesh Today before joining New Age. He is an alumnus of the Barisal Cadet College.
Masum has written reports on extrajudicial killing such as the death in 'crossfire' or 'encounter' committed by the battalion and on illicit trading in drug substances. He has also written several reports on torture on newsmen across the country.
It may be mentioned here that, a group of RAB-3 men picked me up too from my office on March 18, 2008 at gun point saying, they found drugs in my possession. They threatened me of killing in ´cross-fire´ and many of the RAB officers used extreme abusive words on me saying, I was an enemy of Islam for promoting relations with Israel.
Later I was released at the quick intervention of Rep. Mark Stevn Kirk and other esteemed members of the United States Congress.
They [RAB men] ransacked my office and looted several valuables. Despite my series of applications with various offices of the government seeking justice, there was no action against the culprits inside Rapid Action Battalion, nor those valuable looted from my office were ever returned.
With my own experience I can well imagine the sufferings of this fellow journalist in RAB custody.
Bangladeshi government should iniate immediate investigation into both cases and take stern action against those culprits inside Rapid Action Battalion and ensure no further harrassment of journalists by these notorious members of RAB.
According to The New Age, where F M Masum works as a staff correspondent, was picked up by the members of RAB´s unit number 10, and was severly tortured and detained illegally for more than ten hours. On October 22, 2009 [Thursday] members of RAB picked Masum up from his rented house at Jatrabari in Dhaka at noon.
According to Masum and spot accounts, a battalion team raided the house at 67, Dakshin Jatrabai, where Masum lives as a tenant, at noon for alleged involvement of the landlord in drug peddling. The battalion personnel also knocked on the door of Masum's flat.
As soon as Masum opened the door, the battalion personnel slapped him, accusing him of being late in opening the door.
They started torturing Masum severely as he told them of his identity, according to spot accounts.
Torturing him in public on the spot, the battalion men rubbed salt in the wounds and took him to the RAB 10 headquarters at Dhalpur.
At the RAB office, they tortured me inhumanly saying, "We are taking our anger at Nurul Kabir [New Age editor] out on you",' Masum said in the hospital.
Soon after Masum's detention, different battalion officers came up with different stories as reason for the detention. Some of them claimed Masum was found in possession of Pethedine, some said with Phensidyl [Codeine] syrup while some others said they found him with prostitutes.
The battalion, when Masum was released, finally said they had picked him up for not cooperating with the law enforcement agency. The battalion reportedly requested several media houses not to run or print any report on the incident.
The battalion released Masum after the New Age people had to sign an undertaking in which it was written that he had been picked up and was being handed over to his colleagues 'in good health.'
He had marks of injury all over the body and his feet were swollen when he was released. Physicians in Dhaka Medical College Hospital advised a CT scan, which was later done.
Masum also said the battalion personnel had videoed arranged sequences of seizure of drug substances from his room. He was also videoed along with the wife of the owner of the house, he said.
Masum, who received his master's degree in mass communication and journalism department in Dhaka University, earlier worked with the Bangladesh Today before joining New Age. He is an alumnus of the Barisal Cadet College.
Masum has written reports on extrajudicial killing such as the death in 'crossfire' or 'encounter' committed by the battalion and on illicit trading in drug substances. He has also written several reports on torture on newsmen across the country.
It may be mentioned here that, a group of RAB-3 men picked me up too from my office on March 18, 2008 at gun point saying, they found drugs in my possession. They threatened me of killing in ´cross-fire´ and many of the RAB officers used extreme abusive words on me saying, I was an enemy of Islam for promoting relations with Israel.
Later I was released at the quick intervention of Rep. Mark Stevn Kirk and other esteemed members of the United States Congress.
They [RAB men] ransacked my office and looted several valuables. Despite my series of applications with various offices of the government seeking justice, there was no action against the culprits inside Rapid Action Battalion, nor those valuable looted from my office were ever returned.
With my own experience I can well imagine the sufferings of this fellow journalist in RAB custody.
Bangladeshi government should iniate immediate investigation into both cases and take stern action against those culprits inside Rapid Action Battalion and ensure no further harrassment of journalists by these notorious members of RAB.
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