The prosecution of the International Crimes Tribunals on Wednesday filed charges of crimes against humanity against 28 people including 25 former senior officers of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and the Rapid Action Battalion, for their alleged roles in enforced disappearances and torture in custody under their command.
The chief prosecutor, Md Tajul Islam, filed the charges with the International Crimes Tribunal-1.
Deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and former defence adviser Major General (retired) Tarique Ahmed Siddique were also named among the 28 accused in two cases linked to the ‘Aynaghar’, secret detention centres inside the DGFI headquarters in Dhaka Cantonment and the RAB-1 office in Uttara.
The prosecution said that 22 of the accused were high-ranking army officers. Of them, 11 were posted to the DGFI and 11 were deputed to RAB-1.
They said that nine of the 11, deputed to RAB-1, are still in service.
Besides Hasina, Asaduzzaman, and Tarique Siddique, former RAB directors general Benazir Ahmed who is also a former inspector general of police, Khurshid Hossain, and Harun ur Rashid were accused of superior command responsibility in the disappearances and torture.
The interim government uncovered the secret detention centres after assuming office on August 8, 2024, three days after the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 amid a mass uprising. Many victims who had disappeared during the Awami League regime were reportedly freed after the change in power.
The three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, took cognisance of four charges against the 28 accused and issued arrest warrants for all, as all of them are in hiding.
The tribunal directed that copies of the arrest warrants be sent to the respective military authorities for those still in service and asked the inspector general of police to report on the execution of the warrants.
Besides Benazir, Khurshid and Harun, other key accused include several senior RAB officials. They include seven former additional DGs Lieutenant Colonel Anwar Latif Khan, Brigadier General Md Jahangir Alam, Brigadier General Tofael Mostafa Sarwar, Colonel AKM Azad, Brigadier General Kamrul Hasan, Brigadier General Md Mahbub Alam, and Colonel Abdullah Al Momen.
Former four RAB-1 intelligence directors Lieutenant Colonel Sarwar Bin Kashem, Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Muhammad Khairul Islam, Lieutenant Colonel Mashiur Rahman Jewel, and Lieutenant Colonel Saiful Islam Suman are also accused in the cases.
Prosecutor Shyikh Mahdi, who assisted investigation officer and additional superintendent of police Salahuddin in the probe, told New Age that one case involves 17 accused over enforced disappearances and torture at a secret detention centre inside the RAB headquarters, while the other case names 13 accused, including Sheikh Hasina and Tarique Siddique, for similar crimes at the DGFI office inside Dhaka Cantonment.
Hasina and Tarique Siddique are common accused in both cases.
The 11 DGFI-linked accused former army officers include five former DGFI directors general Lieutenant General (retired) Md Akbar Hossain, Major General (retired) Md Saiful Abedin, Lieutenant General (retired) Md Saiful Alam, Lieutenant General (retired) Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury and Major General (retired) Hamidul Huq, former five DGFI (CTIB) directors Major General (retired) Mohammad Towhid-ul-Islam, Major General Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Major General Kobir Ahmed, Brigadier General Mahbub Rahman Siddique, and Brigadier General Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddique, and Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Makhsurul Haq who hails from Kushtia.
On January 6, the ICT-1 issued warrants to arrest the seven army officers during the investigation but they are yet to be arrested.
The names of the four new accused—Md Sarwar Hossain, Kobir Ahmed, Mahbub Rahman Siddique and Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddique—came during the investigation.
Eleven former RAB officers—six former additional DGs (operations)— Brigadiers General Md Jahangir Alam, Tofael Mostafa Sarwar, Kamrul Hasan, Md Mahbub Alam, and Colonels Anwar Latif Khan and Abdullah Al Momen—four former RAB-1 intelligence directors Lieutenant Colonel Sarwar Bin Kashem, retired Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Khairul Islam, Lieutenant Colonel Mashiur Rahman Jewel, and Lieutenant Colonel Saiful Islam Suman are also accused in the cases.
With the two enforced disappearance cases, Sheikh Hasina, now staying in India, will face trial in three crimes against humanity cases. She is facing trial in absentia in one case over atrocities across the country during the July mass uprising. The trial in the case has reached its final stage.
Prosecutor Shyikh Mahdi said that the investigation found evidence of enforced disappearances and torture of 26 people inside the Joint Interrogation Cell, popularly known as ‘Aynaghar’, located within the DGFI headquarters.
He said that the detention centre had 22 cells used to hold detainees illegally.
Among those detained were suspended Brigadier General Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, son of former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam, Humam Quader Chowdhury, son of BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and United People’s Democratic Front leader Michael Chakma.
The investigation also found that 13 people were detained and tortured at the RAB-1 office in Uttara, which also operated a secret facility known as ‘Aynaghar’, after being picked up by the DGFI. Among them was Supreme Court lawyer Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, son of executed war crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali.
Four victims were present in the courtroom during Wednesday’s hearing.
Prosecutor Mahdi said that the enforced disappearance survivors have been listed as key witnesses in the two cases.
He added that the investigation focused on the commanding and superior officers responsible for the operations, rather than field-level officers who carried out the detentions.
Mahdi said that former Major General Ziaul Ahsan, ex-director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre, and DIG of police Md Asaduzzaman, former chief of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, were initially named in the DGFI case but were dropped later.
He, however, noted that Ziaul Ahsan and several others are likely to face separate cases as ‘many enforced disappearance allegations remain against them.’
Chief prosecutor Md Tajul Islam, who filed the formal charges against 28 accused, later told reporters that investigators focused on cases where victims had returned to their families, while probes into cases involving those still missing would continue.
He said that the accused were responsible for abduction, confinement, torture, and enforced disappearance — crimes against humanity — through direct participation, command, instigation, or failure to prevent them.
After reviewing the charges and evidence, the tribunal found sufficient grounds to presume their involvement under sections 3(2), 4(1), 4(2), and 4(3) of the ICT Act, 1973, and accordingly issued arrest warrants against the accused.
The arrest warrants have been sent to the chief of army staff, chief of general staff, adjutant general, DGs of DGFI and NSI, principal staff officer of the Armed Forces Division, secretary to the Chief Adviser’s Office, directors of Military Intelligence and Personnel Services, commandant of the Army Security Unit, and the provost marshal and commanding officer of the Army Military Police unit for information.
The tribunal set October 22 for passing a further order.
Tajul said that the nine serving army officers could no longer stay in the service as per the recent amendment to the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973.
According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, more than 300 missing persons, who were victims of enforced disappearance during the Awami League regime, were still unaccounted for, the members of the commission said after they handed over the report to Yunus at the state guest house on June 3, 2025.
The commission members in their June 4, 2025 report to the office of the chief adviser said that they had received 1,850 complaints so far, and, among them, they verified 1,350 complaints.
They also said that the number of complaints could exceed 3,500.
On December 14, 2024 the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance, in its first interim report, found prima facie involvement of Sheikh Haisna and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including Tarique Ahmed Siddique in enforced disappearances.
The five-member commission led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury submitted the report titled ‘Unfolding the truth’ to chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
The commission recommended disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion, a press release issued by the press wing of the chief adviser’s office had said.
The commission also found the involvement of former National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre director general and sacked Major General Ziaul Ahsan, senior police officers, including former Special Branch chief Monirul Islam and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police detective branch chief Md Harun-Or-Rashid, in several incidents of enforced disappearance.
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