STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Iqbal Chowdhury, a victim of enforced disappearance, yesterday described the trauma and despair he endured while allegedly being held in a cell of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.

“I was terrified... I kept crying. I kept praying to Allah. It felt like I was inside a living grave,” Iqbal, a former teacher turned businessman, told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 while narrating his ordeal.

He testified as the fourth prosecution witness in a crimes against humanity case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 12 others over the secret detention and torture of at least 24 people at the JIC between 2016 and August 2024.

According to his testimony, he was targeted for his critical social media posts on the 2009 BDR massacre, the Shapla Chattar killings, former BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s eviction from her residence, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the then Awami League government’s tenure.

Iqbal said that on May 7, 2018, plainclothes men identifying themselves as law enforcers picked him up from his Mohammadpur residence without disclosing details. He was taken at gunpoint in a white microbus with black glass, blindfolded and handcuffed, and threatened with “crossfire” before being confined

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