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Bangladesh’s court sends 15 senior army officers to jail for crimes against humanity.

For the first time in Bangladesh's history, 15 army officers were taken to a civil court yesterday to face trial for their alleged role in enforced disappearances under the Awami League regime and killings during the July uprising.

A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday ordered the arrest and imprisonment of 15 army officials, including 14 of them serving officers, for their involvement in force disappearance and murder cases.

The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal has also ordered the publication of notices in newspapers calling for the appearance of fugitive former leader Sheikh Hasina and her security adviser, as well as others, in the cases.

Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam shared the development with reporters after the court ruling on three separate cases.

Defense lawyer Barrister M Sarwar Hossain told reporters after the court order that those who actually committed the crime, including murder and forced disappearance, have fled to neighboring India. Officers who surrendered are “innocent” and it will be proved through the court, he added.

For the first time in Bangladesh’s history, 15 army officers were taken to a civil court yesterday to face trial for their alleged role in enforced disappearances under the Awami League regime and killings during the July uprising.

The major move comes amid calls for punishing those who were involved in serious crimes following the last 15-year rule of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and killings in last July’s uprising.

Hasina has been in exile since Aug. 5 after being ousted in the uprising that left 1,400 people dead.

Earlier, the army officials, serving top posts of the Hasina government, were accused in cases of forced disappearance and murder cases, among others. They were arrested by the army and kept in a house in a Dhaka cantonment that is announced as a sub-jail by the Home Ministry.

The officers were brought in by a green air conditioned prison van. The prison van is seen on the premises of the Tribunal on 22 October 2025

However, the victims in the cases, talking to reporters, criticized the move of keeping the army officers in a special jail in a cantonment, adding that it has created disparity and fear of getting justice.

Two of the cases involve enforced disappearances and the other is over the July uprising killings. The tribunal issued arrest warrants against 32 accused, including the 15 officers, on October 8 after taking cognisance of formal charges against them. The Bangladesh Army on October 11 announced that the 15 serving officers had been taken into custody.

According to the prosecution, one case over enforced disappearance involves the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) Cell, run by the Rapid Action Battalion. According to the charges, 14 detainees were confined and tortured in the cell between 2016 and 2024.

Those ordered to be sent to prison are: Brigadier General Md Jahangir Alam, former additional director general of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB); Brigadier General Tofayel Mustafa Sarwar; Brigadier General Md Kamrul Hasan; Brigadier General Md Mahbub Alam; Brigadier General KM Azad; Colonel Abdullah Al Momen; Colonel Anwar Latif Khan (currently on pre-retirement leave); Lt Colonel Md Mashiur Rahman, former director of RAB’s intelligence branch; Lt Colonel Saiful Islam Sumon; Lt Colonel Md Sarwar Bin Kashem; Lt Colonel Mohammad Redwanul Islam; and Major Md Rafat-bin-Alam, former Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) officer.

An army officer is being taken to the International Crimes Tribunal on 22 October 2025

The tribunal also sent to jail three former directors of the DGFI. They are: Major General Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Brigadier General Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui, and Brigadier General Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui.

The tribunal’s directive follows their formal appearance in court earlier this morning, as part of the ongoing proceedings into three cases — two related to enforced disappearances and torture during the Awami League government’s tenure, and one concerning crimes against humanity during the July mass uprising.

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