ICT judges inspect RAB ‘secret detention site’

Judges of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) have toured an alleged secret detention centre run by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) during the Awami League government’s tenure.

The judges inspected the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell at RAB-1 Headquarters in Dhaka’s Uttara around 11am on Saturday.

ICT-1 Chairman Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, flanked by member judges Safiul Alam Mahmud and Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury, led the visit, joined by the prosecution team under Aminul Islam, defence lawyers, investigators, human rights activist Nur Khan Liton, Mayer Daak Coordinator and MP Sanjida Tulee, and journalists.

Chief Prosecutor Aminul said afterwards that Section 539-B of domestic law, Rules 7 and 73 of the Rome Statute, and Rule 46 of the tribunal's Rules of Procedure empower judges to inspect crime scenes, with the tribunal granting the visit following the prosecution's application.

"A trial cannot rest on documents and testimony alone. Inspecting the crime scene is a vital strand of the judicial process," he added.

Branding the TFI cell a "brutal torture chamber", the chief prosecutor said it comprised 29 rooms of varying dimensions, including an unusually cramped basement cell where an average-sized person could not lie flat.

"Evidence shows detainees were blindfolded, shackled and confined here for days, months, even years, and subjected to torture."

Aminul said BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed and Barrister Mir Ahamd Bin Quasem Arman, both victims of enforced disappearance, had been held in the cell.

While some detainees were eventually released across different cases, many others were killed, he said, adding that more than 250 disappearance victims, including Ilias Ali, remain untraced to this day.    �"bdnews24