Bangladesh Discovers Mass Grave at Border Guard Compound

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – The Bangladesh military discovered a mass grave in Dhaka holding 66 border guard officers killed by mutinous border guards.  Col Rezaul Karim, chief deputy of the elite Rapid Action Battalion force, told AFP “The bodies were buried underground in a makeshift grave near the hospital in the BDR headquarters compound.”

Officials say that at least 50 more people have been killed during the 2-day violent revolt.

Major General Shakil Ahmed, a commander of the Bangladesh Rifles border guards, was one of the dead bodies found inside the border guard compound. Many more guard officers remain missing. Hundreds of mutinous border guards fled after surrendering to the government. The mutinous guards agreed to lay down their weapons after the prime minister vowed to look into their grievances, which include demands for better pay.

Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina sent in military tanks throughout Dhaka to help stabilize the crisis. Bangladeshi authorities arrested 300 border guards believed to take part in the mutiny.

The rebellion happened this past Wednesday after failed negotiations with officials for better benefits for border guards. Border guards are responsible for securing the country’s border and providing backup the country’s army and police. There has been a long standing tension between the government and the border guards who complain they are treated as second class citizens to the Bangladeshi military.

After visiting the Bangladesh Rifles border guard’s compound, a government minister announced that the men responsible for the deaths of border guard officers would not receive the amnesty Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina previously offered.  “No one has the right to kill anyone,” the prime minister said.

The Bangladeshi government declared three days of official mourning, beginning Friday and ending on Sunday at midnight.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Bangladesh Troops Find Mass Grave– 27 February 2009

Economic Times – Mass grave discovered at BDR headquarters, 30 bodies recovered– 27 February 2009

VOA – Mass Grave Discovered in Bangladesh Border Guard Compound – 27 February 2009

Bangladesh Border Guards End Their Mutiny

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Government officials say that the Bangladesh border guards that rebelled against the government over conditions and pay have surrendered. The mutiny began on February 25th at the Dhaka headquarters of a paramilitary unit called the Bangladesh Rifles.  An army helicopter patrolling above the barracks was shot at and mortar rounds were also fired.

By the next day, the mutiny spread to 12 different towns and cities where border guards seized control of their barracks. Police chief of the Moulivibazar district told the AFP news agency that the border guards were “firing indiscriminately.” Reports said some border guards took their officers hostage, and in others they forced them to leave. Schools in Dhaka and the surrounding areas were closed for the day and mobile phone service was suspended across the country in a bid to stop the rebellion spreading.

A government spokesperson said the situation is now under control despite sounds of gunfire in the capital. The situation in other parts of the country, where paramilitary forces remain at large is still unclear.

The mutinous border guards were demanding better wages and new bosses. They surrendered after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned the guards would face “tough action” if they didn’t surrender. “Lay down your guns immediately and go back to barracks … Do not force me to take tough actions or push my patience,” she said. On Thursday, tanks rolled into the capital to backup. About 50 people have died in the violence.

Hasina offered to pardon the guards if they surrender and return to the post. A representative of the guards told the media they were surrendering because the Prime Minister agreed to look into their grievances.

There are 70,000 border guards in 42 camps across the country. The border guards are responsible for securing boarders and provide backup for the army and police.

Indian border officials told the media they will close their borders near Bangladesh and remain vigilant.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Bangladesh Guard Mutiny is ‘Over’– 26 February 2009

FT – Amnesty deal ends border guard mutiny in Bangladesh – 26 February 2009

VOA – Bangladesh Say Mutinous Guards Surrender– 26 February 2009

State of Emergency Regulations Will Continue in Tonga

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – The Tonga Government says state of emergency regulations will be in place until people in the capital city center feel safe again.

Nearly three years ago, the pro-democracy movement in Tonga turned violent, causing the death of eight and destroying Tonga’s capital city, Nuku’alofa. The riots erupted after the Legislative Assembly of Tonga adjourned for the year without employing promised reforms.

Following the violence in 2006, the government issued a 30 day state of emergency, and has since renewed those regulations on a monthly basis.

The state of emergency regulations were expanded in September, giving Tongan police the power to stop individuals, search them without a warrant, and even enter into and seize evidence from any vehicle, ship, or aircraft.

Citizens complain that the regulations are too restrictive, while the Government contends they are necessary to ensuring security.

While Police Minister, Siaosi Aho, recognizes that the regulations have tainted the people’s image of the police and government, he also says there is no foreseeable end to the “special laws.”

“And this is one of the things that has convinced me that I should continue [with the emergency regulations] is the fact that the people had completely lost faith and trust in the police. We are running a programme now, strategically, to bring back this trust,” Aho said.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Emergency powers in Tonga’s capital won’t go until people assure Government they feel safe – 25 February 2009

ABC Radio New Zealand – Tonga reimposes emergency regulations – 10 September 2008

AFP News Service – Tonga extends area under emergency powers – 10 September 2008

Freed Detainee Tells About Torture by U.S.

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
LONDON, U.K.- Binyam Mohamed, a former British resident, arrived in London on Monday after his release from Guantanamo Bay. Mohamed is the first Guantanamo detainee to be released during the Obama administration. Mohamed is a native of Ethiopia who immigrated to Britain in 1994, was arrested in Pakistan in April 2002 and turned over to U.S. authorities a few months later. American officials accused him of traveling to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, which he has repeatedly denied. He was initially charged with plotting to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States and later with conspiring with members of al-Qaeda to murder and commit terrorism. All of the charges were eventually dropped.  The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been petitioning the U.S. government for Mohamed’s return since August 2007.
Mohamed stated, “It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways — all orchestrated by the United States government.” Mohamed also stated that U.S. officials flew him to Morocco and that he was tortured there for 18 months. He said he was beaten and had his penis cut with a razor. He said he was then transferred to a CIA-run site in Afghanistan and was beaten there regularly before being moved to Guantanamo in September 2004.
U.S. officials have never acknowledged taking Mohamed to Morocco; Moroccan officials deny having held him. U.S. officials have also repeatedly denied torturing terrorism suspects.
Also in contention is the Pentagon’s recent review of conditions at Guantanamo. The Pentagon found that “all detainees are well protected from violence.” Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, led a 13-day investigation at the military prison, interviewing staff and detainees and conducting announced and unannounced inspections round the clock. Human rights and civil liberties groups challenged Walsh’s findings. They have said that solitary confinement has led to the deterioration of the physical and psychological health of detainees, some of whom are force-fed because they are on hunger strikes.
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the only organization with unfettered access to the prisoners, said the group supports the recommendations for increased socialization for all detainees but disagreed with Walsh’s conclusion that force-feeding is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
For more information, please see:
Washington Post- Freed detainee in U.K. tells of abuse by U.S.- 24 February 2009
Associated Press- Former Guatanamo detainee enjoying freedom in UK- 24 February 2009
BBC News-  Release Binyam torture data– 24 February 2009

U.S. Court of Appeals Grants Fiji Family Political Asylum

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SAN FRANCISCO, United States – A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that a California man and his family who fled Fiji in 1998 in response to racially motivated beatings and death threats are eligible for political asylum.  The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reversed rulings by immigration courts against Rajeshwar Singh, his wife, Mohini Lata Singh, and their two children.

Mr. Singh’s father was killed by native Fijians in 1987 and the Singhs were under pressure to vacate their leased land so natives could move in according to their lawyer, Ashwani Bakhri.  Mr. Singh, a cabdriver in Fiji, was locked in the trunk of his taxi in 1996 by passengers who rolled the vehicle into a ditch, seriously injuring him.  His wife and young children were also attacked.  The Singhs, of Indian descent, said the violence against them was by Fiji’s native majority, who control the government.

The federal immigration board ruled that the family had not been persecuted which made them ineligible for asylum because they could not show that the police were unable or unwilling to protect them.  In a 3-0 ruling the appeals court said Singh had complained to police about the violence and had received no response.

The court ruled, “We have previously recognized the indifference of authorities to violence against Indo-Fijians during the period at issue in this case.”  The judges said the Singhs had been persecuted because of their ethnicity and probably would be persecuted again if they were deported back to Fiji.

For more information, please see:

San Francisco Chronicle – Fiji fear leads to asylum win for local family – 23 February 2009

Fiji Times – Fiji family qualifies for political asylum, US court rules – 24 February 2009