STAFF CORRESPONDENT

A victim of enforced disappearance told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday that as he pleaded for release, saying he had two children, plainclothes men who detained him threatened to shoot him if he spoke up.

Masrur Anowar Chowdhury, a 36-year-old electrical and electronic engineer, said five to six men abducted him near Gulshan on March 1, 2020, while he was on his way to the office. They dragged him into a microbus, handcuffed and blindfolded him, and took him to a secret detention centre.

Testifying as a prosecution witness in a case linked to a Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell allegedly operated under the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Masrur said he was held in two locations for about a week, during which he was tortured twice and threatened with death.

He said he was first taken to a small cell and interrogated about social media posts critical of the then Awami League government and India.

“When I denied links to any militant group, I was beaten twice -- once with a belt and again with a hard object. They threatened to kill me if I did not confess,” he said.

Masrur said he was later moved to what he believed was a Rab compound, where he was kept in a narrow cell, often blindfolded and handcuffed. Detainees were given only a few minutes for basic needs and were beaten if they exceeded the time.

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