Story

To mark World News Day on September 28, 2022, the World News Day campaign is sharing stories that have had a significant social impact. This particular story, which was shared by The Daily Star (Bangladesh), was published on September 13, 2021.

In a forward-looking move, the government has set out to form a law for personal data protection fashioned on the EU’s momentous General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as it looks to make Bangladesh fit for the digital age.

Like the GDPR, the law would allow citizens the right to know what personal information is being collected, how the data will be used or processed, for how long, and where the data will be kept or moved, according to the draft bill.

But where it diverged from the GDPR is that the certain state agencies like the law enforcement agencies are spared from complying with the law for “functions of the government”. The Daily Star has a copy of the draft law prepared in November last year.

“The problem in the draft law is that it leaves loopholes for the government agencies, which will nullify the whole purpose of the law,” said Md Saimum Reza Talukder, an advocate who specialises in law, privacy and digital technologies.

For example, the law will not be applicable for government agencies building a case against someone under the existing laws of the land.

In other words, someone being prosecuted under any law will not have the right to data protection, meaning the spectre of the contentious Digital Security Act (DSA) — where digital data is the main evidence used — would continue to loom large.

The DSA has been routinely abused to target journalists and muzzle online dissent.

The law is being drafted for data protection, privacy and to control social media, said Mustafa Jabbar, minister of post and telecommunication.

“I want this law,” he said.

The Director General of the Digital Security Agency will be investigating violations, levying fines and ensuring overall compliance — and will be exempted from prosecution along with employees of the Data Protection Office for violations to be considered as “done in good faith”.

“If the DG or Data Protection Office is indemnified against any such prosecution, it contradicts the constitution, which guarantees the fundamental right of equality before the law. This provision cannot be expected in a democratic society,” Talukder said.

As per the proposed act, it will be mandatory for private and public organisations to appoint or designate individuals as data controllers and data protection officers.

The data protection officer is a person appointed by the data controller to make sure that the relevant data protection laws are being followed.

A data controller is defined as the person responsible for collecting or processing (or supervising the processing) of personal data.

For the government, this could be a law enforcement officer; for a non-governmental organisation, it could be the person in charge of supervising beneficiary data or even an IT department.

The DG will have the power to intervene and give mandatory directions to all data controllers and data processors.

The draft contains a provision that will enable the government to officially publish gazettes exempting certain data controllers, or “class of data controllers” from having to follow any provision of the law. With this section, it is completely exempting government agencies, or state forces who are functioning as data controllers.

This coupled with the fact that the DG is indemnified from facing prosecution for such directions takes away checks and balances from the perspective of administrative law and might also hamper institutional autonomy, he said.

“The government’s law enforcement mechanisms never hesitated to weaponise such laws before,” said Faheem Hussain, a tech policy specialist and an associate professor at Arizona State University, who chairs the school’s Global Technology and Development post-graduate programme.

The law gives the citizen the right to know about what kind of data is being collected about them, and whether any data profile is being created, but it exempts cases in which “processing is necessary for functions of the government”.

In another section, the draft law says personal data can only be processed in compliance with the law, but will not be applicable “for compliance with any legal obligation to which the data controller is the subject.”

Another touchy feature of the draft law — which is present in the GDPR — is that foreign organisations with a branch, agency or even a single piece of equipment in Bangladesh will have to comply and fall under the jurisdiction of the DG.

The personal data of Bangladeshi citizens must stay in the country.

The draft says citizens must be notified via written notice about any cross-border transfer of personal data being carried out and that the data controller cannot transfer any personal data to a place outside Bangladesh unless the government gives permission.

This means development partners, foreign NGOs and international human rights organisations as well as foreign banks like Standard Chartered and HSBC will have to localise data within the Bangladesh territory.

This might be problematic, according to Talukder.

“This might also be problematic if the government requires the development partners, INGOs, and international human rights organisations to localise data within Bangladeshi territory. Compliance with other regional and international personal data protection principles will be an issue then,” said Talukder.

Last month, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for information and communication technology, told The Daily Star that the law is being formulated to ensure that data of the people of Bangladesh stay within the country and that all foreign organisations must comply with it.

“Or else, they will not be allowed to operate in Bangladesh,” he said.

While such an uncompromising stance can work for the EU, it can backfire for Bangladesh — a country in dire need of foreign direct investment and receives a rather modest sum every year.

In 2020, Bangladesh received about $2.6 billion in FDI, down 10.8 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

Cross-border transfer of data that serve the “strategic interests” of the country however are exempt from this, which begs the question what constitutes as strategic interest.

For a draft that defined in detail terms such as “medical purpose” or “healthcare professional”, there are no definitions given for “strategic interest”, “national security”, or “public interest”.

Contacted, Tarique Barkatullah, director of National Data Centre at Bangladesh Computer Council and one of the authors of the law, said the draft is not final yet.

“We have submitted four drafts so far, and each time they came back with recommendations as the government is vetting the law will very carefully.”

Once the draft bill is finalised, it will be put up for public debate and then changed further.

The provisions for foreign entities might not stay in the final version of the law because the government does not want to impact the FDI flow in any way, he said.

“This provision has been rejected by the higher levels. We do not have the leverage required to make foreign companies comply with this. It is crucial for the country to attract foreign investment.”

Quizzed about the exemptions left for government agencies and whether they will remain in the final draft, he said he was unsure.

“We have observed over 130 laws from across the world, and they all have similar provisions for law enforcement agencies,” he added.

To mark World News Day on September 28, 2022, the World News Day campaign is sharing stories that have had a significant social impact. This particular story, which was shared by The Daily Star (Bangladesh), was published on September 13, 2021.

A simple motorbike accident by a teenage boy in the capital’s Mirpur has been turned into an extortion case against eight school and college students for reasons the victim, his family and witnesses cannot explain.

In the evening of March 7, Abdul Barek was hit and injured by a teenage biker in front of Baitur Rahman Jame Mosjid in Mirpur 12.

The 60-year-old was first rushed to a nearby hospital and then to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation by locals, and he returned home the same night with his fractured left arm in a cast.

A case drafted by Rab-4 three days later tells a very different story, however.

The case makes no mention of the accident or the biker. Instead, it accuses five college students and three more teenagers, including two school-goers from the neighbourhood, of “beating, injuring and extorting Tk 40,500” from Barek, a tea vendor.

The accused include a 15-year-old son of Mohon Mia, who is allegedly a victim of enforced disappearance. Mohan Mia went missing in 2018 after a dispute over a piece of land in Mirpur 2 with a local man.

Mohon Mia’s father Jamsher Ali and locals suspect some Rab members sided with that man, and turned against Jamsher’s family and some locals.

Locals and the victims’ families also suspect Rab was influenced by an informant who wanted to “teach these boys a lesson” for the bike accident.

Barek’s son Nazmul Hossain Bappi, the plaintiff of the case, said he wanted to file a case over the accident, seeking compensation, and that he only signed the statement drawn up by Rab.

He also alleged that Rab kept him and five of the accused in the Rab-4 headquarters in Paikpara for about 24 hours, before they were all taken to Pallabi Police Station for Bappi to lodge the already drafted case and for the five students to be handover to the police.

Parvez Islam, officer-in-charge of Pallabi Police Station, declined to comment citing ongoing investigation.

Rab-4 Company Commander refuted all the allegations and said they acted properly.

What happened?

Talking to The Daily Star recently, Barek said he was returning home after buying some goods for his shop when the accident happened.

He said the biker, who was alone, could be aged around 15, and that he passed out after being hit.

“I later came to know that my son filed a case. I thought it was over the accident and that we would get some compensation… But later, the whole story changed,” he said.

According to the case statement, the accused came in front of Barek’s tea stall in Mirpur 12 on three motorbikes and demanded Tk 20,000. Refused, they beat him up with iron pipes, leaving him with a fractured arm and injuries to his head and other parts of the body.

A spot visit by The Daily Star found the accident spot is about a kilometre from the tea stall.

Barek said nothing in the case statement is true.

The case, filed on March 10, also states that the accused were members of “Sumon-Habib” gang involved in extortion and mugging in the area.

Locals said there was indeed one such gang, but the accused and their families denied they were involved with the group.

The twist

After hitting Barek, the biker fled the scene, leaving the bike that he borrowed from another teenager. The Daily Star is withholding the biker’s name for legal reasons.

Subsequently, he told the bike owner, Nahidul Islam Nirob, 19, and some other friends about the accident. In the hope of getting back the bike, they contacted the victim’s family immediately, offering compensation. They also supported Barek with his treatment at two hospitals.

Nirob and four of his friends made an agreement with Bappi that they would come the following day (March 8) for final settlement regarding compensation for Barek and the return of the bike.

In the meantime, a man known as a Rab informant in the neighbourhood who happens to be an acquaintance of Bappi, told Bappi that he could use his influence to secure the compensation.

He also told Bappi, who lost his brother a year ago in a separate bike accident in the area, that he should teach these boys a lesson.

Everything changed after a Rab team raided the area as the bike owner and four of his friends went there for the settlement on March 8 evening, said Habibur Rahman Payel, one of the accused.

“As we were about to enter Barek’s house, some Rab members in plainclothes stormed the scene out of nowhere. We were rounded up and kept in Rab custody till late evening of March 9. Then we were handed over to Pallabi police,” he said.

None of them were allowed to contact their families, he claimed.

Bappi, who was also taken to the Rab 4 office along with the five accused, said he wanted to file a case over reckless driving.

“But the Rab members didn’t want it that way,” he said.

He claimed when a Rab official drafted the case, he requested the official not to charge the boys with beating up his father.

After the drafting was over, the Rab official asked Bappi to sign it.

“They also recorded a complaint that said the gang members threatened us, and had me sign that too,” Bappi added.

Nakib Uddin Shikder, a local trader, and Montaj Ali, an embroidery worker, who were made witnesses in the case, were surprised to learn about the allegations made in the complaint.

“The case statement is completely false,” Nakib said, and then went on to describe how the accident took place near the mosque before Maghrib prayers, how locals took Barek to the hospital and how they seized the bike in the hope of getting compensation for the family.

“We know nothing about the extortion and assault,” Nakib said, adding that a day after the incident, a Rab team went to his shop near the scene of the accident and asked him to sign a document.

Montaj was not even present at the scene of the accident. And yet, Rab members allegedly forced him to sign a paper when he went to a mobile servicing shop near Barek’s house the next day.

“I told them I am illiterate and cannot read or write. So, Rab members wrote my name on a piece of paper and had me practise several times before making me sign their paper,” he alleged.

Abuse of power?

Former Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque expressed his disbelief at the findings of The Daily Star, and said, “If true, then it is a clear case of abuse of power.”

Noted rights activist Nur Khan questioned the very involvement of Rab in a case of an accident.

“Rab was not supposed to be involved in this matter. If needed, police could take action [against the biker]. It appears that Rab did this beyond the legal scope of its work,” he said.

The accused college students, Habibur Rahman Payel, Nahidul Islam Nirob, Proggyanur Rahman Mughdo, Saiful Islam, and Dewan MA Mahim, are now on bail.

Of the three boys accused, one is the son of Mohon Mia, the alleged victim of enforced disappearance, the other is Mohon’s cousin while the third is a resident of the neighbourhood.

One of the three was arrested by Rab one and a half month after the case was filed, and he has since been freed on bail. The other two boys have been living in fear of arrest.

Court sources said Bappi, the plaintiff, has submitted a deposition that he had no objection if the accused were discharged.

Asked about the three other accused, Payel, himself an accused, said he did not even know them and that he came to know about the three much later.

Zahirul Islam, who retired from a security force, denied that he was a Rab informant.

He said he was in the vicinity when Rab members raided the area.

“One of my former colleagues [in the security force] was in the Rab team and he invited me to their canteen. That’s why I went to the Rab office with Bappi,” he said.

Rab 4 Company Commander Superintendent of Police Joyita Shilpi, who led the drive, said they acted upon the complaint filed by the plaintiff. She also denied that Rab members drafted the case statement.

Asked about the three teenage boys’ inclusion in the case, she said she was only aware of five accused. “I do not know what happened later.”

To mark World News Day on September 28, 2022, the World News Day campaign is sharing stories that have had a significant social impact. This particular story, which was shared by The Daily Star (Bangladesh), was published on August 30, 2022.

“How are our loved ones? Are they eating well? Are they being tortured? Are they… alive?” These questions haunt the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance as they spend agonising weeks, months and years, holding out hope against all odds. 

At least 522 people have become victims of enforced disappearance between 2009 and 2018 in Bangladesh, cite various human rights organisations. 

Most survivors who come back home after being released from their forced captivity stay away from the public eye, never revealing where they were or who took them. A March 2022 study by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) tracked down cases happening between 2019 and 2021 and found that of the 30 percent of victims that were released, or officially arrested and thrown in jail, not one spoke up. 

But on condition of anonymity, five such survivors answered the questions asked most pertinently by their loved ones.

While their families search every alleyway, survivors say that they lived right around the corner in the capital city. 

All testimonies by survivors point to at least two separate centres in Dhaka city, allegedly run by a security force and a law enforcement agency, and a third centre in a southern district. 

According to the claims made in the interviews, the centres are fully fledged illegal prisons, running on taxpayers’ money meant for maintaining law and order and protecting the country. 

The Daily Star is refraining from mentioning the names of the units to protect the anonymity of the sources. 

The details described by two of the survivors correspond with each other and point to one centre – let’s call it Centre “U” – while three other survivors all gave identical testimonies of the second centre. Let’s call it Centre “C.”

The survivors were kept in the centres for periods ranging from two months up to one and a half years. Their years of detention spanned between 2015 and 2020. 

Four of the survivors were picked up for political reasons and their social media activities, while one survivor, who had been kept in Centre “C,” was a case of mistaken identity.

All of the survivors were picked up from Dhaka – this corresponds with the CGS study that found that over a third of the cases happened in just the capital city.

At Centre “U,” the victims described harsher, inhumane living conditions and torturous interrogations, while the victims at Centre “C” described a meticulously designed prison equipped to cater to any and all needs of the detainees.

Both, however, serve the singular purpose of holding a person against his will in solitary confinement, arbitrarily and illegally, for an endless period of time, not knowing whether he will be released or see the end of his life. 

Both detainees from Centre “U” described being held in cells roughly 2.5 feet in width, four feet in length and five feet in height — “such that one cannot lie down, or stand up. One must always be half-sitting or half-lying.” The cells had three concrete walls and a prison cell door with rungs. 

One of the detainees was kept there for four months before being transferred to a southern district, while another detainee was kept there for a little over a week before being transferred to a bigger cell within the same centre. Their detention periods were five years apart. 

Both detainees spoke of being blindfolded and handcuffed during the entirety of their stay at Centre “U”. 

“It was very dark, but I was also blindfolded. Everyone gets blindfolded. The cell was two floors down under the ground. They strip you down to your underwear. They give you a lungi. The lungi was given many, many hours later after stripping,” said one detainee, describing the initial moments of his captivity. 

“Our hands were cuffed at the back for the whole duration of our captivity, except when it was time to eat and when we went to the bathroom,” he said. The continuous handcuffing was such that a guard took pity on them and used to secretly open their handcuffs at night. 

“There was an uncle, an old guard; he used to uncuff all our hands after midnight for a few hours. We could then open our blindfolds. I got him on three nights during my stay,” said the detainee. He was held at Centre “U” for less than three months.

The detainee said that he was transferred to a bigger cell a week into his arrival to Centre “U”. “I climbed metal staircases to my second cell. This place had a bigger room, but it was extremely hot and there were lots of mosquitos. The rooms had stand fans – they were switched on only occasionally. They knew exactly how much would be needed to keep us alive,” he described.

“The floor was of broken cement. And we were made to sleep on the floor without any bedding. I was given a bottle of mineral water and I used to use that as a pillow under my head. It could get so cold at night on the floor…” he recalled. 

Another detainee who stayed at the centre for less than six months said, “For as long as I was in that centre, I was kept blindfolded and handcuffed. The centre was probably three storeys underground.” He said that he had realised this because when he was being transferred to another centre, they made him climb up three storeys and then he straightaway entered a vehicle kept at that level. 

Similar to the first detainee, his cell too was too small to lie down in, and he sat up for months on end. 

Both the victims said they had counted the number of detainees by the noises made by plates and doors during meal distributions. 

The first detainee said he remembered counting 12 cells, one facing the other. “I counted when my eyes were opened for the first time by the kind guard, and I saw the cell opposite to mine. I also counted by the clicking of cell doors when they used to give us food.”

The second detainee said, “There were about 14 of us in that long hall. I counted by the noise of the metal plates hitting the floor during mealtimes.” 

Similarly, even though their detention periods were spaced five years apart, they were both tortured during interrogation.

“I was interrogated for six hours. Every part of me was tortured. They used movie-like torture methods. They used something to give intense heat from up top. I was bleeding from the nose because of the torture. By the time they took me back to my cell, I was unconscious,” said one.

Another claimed, “I was made to sit in a wooden chair with ankle bindings and wrist bindings. They attached two crocodile clips to my earlobes and the clips were attached to two batteries. They would ask a question and send a jolt to my ears. They kept threatening that if I did not cooperate, they would attach the clips to my genitals. I urinated because of the torture.

“I would be beaten if I tried praying. They used to say that a sinner like me need not pray,” he shared.

He also described another method of torture at a second centre. After his stint in the capital city, he was taken to another centre outside the capital towards the south. The Daily Star is refraining from naming the district to protect the detainee. 

“It took many hours to reach that place. On our way to that district, I heard the names of the areas from the bus conductors crying out for passengers, and so I know where I was taken. The place was not too far from a launch jetty, because I kept hearing the whistles of the ships during my stay there,” he described. 

The torture method in that centre involved force-feeding. “They would bring buckets containing several kilograms of beef. ‘You will have to eat half of this,’ they would tell me. For each meal, we were given six eggs,” described the detainee. “You have no idea how much money they spend behind each detainee.” 

At that particular centre, the walls were of corrugated tin and the detainees were kept in what looked like large animal cages. “At least I could stretch my legs inside. Here, instead of having my hands locked in the front, one hand was put in a cuff, and the cuff was tied to a long rope attached to a hook outside the cage.” There were four cages inside the long room, he said.

“There came a time, when the other three people were taken away one day. When my handlers came back, they said that one had been let go, while the other two had been shot dead in ‘crossfire.’ From that point, until I was released, I spent my time in mortal fear thinking that I would be killed too,” he stated.

The threat of “crossfire” was used as an interrogation tool and torture method. “I was taken to a large highway in the city – I was blindfolded and cuffed so I don’t know which one. When we reached the area, everyone got out of the car, leaving me. I could feel a person getting in. He asked me questions about my political allegiance. At one point during the questioning, I was dragged out of the car and asked to run. I was afraid of being shot from the back, so I did not run and just stood in my spot,” he said. 

Both the detainees described the use of large machines as noise-cancelling techniques to drown out the voices of the people inside. 

One detainee said something like a large generator operated at all hours. “I started bleeding from the nose and throat because of the noise,” he said.

The other detainee described extremely loud music being played at certain times. “It would make my head hurt.” 

He also said he would have to shower in the middle of the night. “I was bare-chested and had only one lungi. Every time I washed it, I would have to wear the wet lungi until it dried. I am prone to the cold and it was pure torture,” he said. 

Five years later, laundry systems at the centre were seemingly improved. The other detainee described, “They had a collection of lungis and T-shirts that would get rotated among the inmates. We could wash our T-shirt and lungi and leave it to dry in the washroom and be handed a replacement,” he said. 

Both the detainees cut their hair and shaved only once during their many months of detention, just prior to release. 

Centre “C”

The three detainees of Centre “C” described better facilities and did not report torture. 

All detainees described the centre as a fully functioning outfit with its own kitchen, capable of cooking feasts, a barber’s room, a doctor’s room, fully stocked bathrooms, rooms furnished with beds and blankets, high commode toilets and even books for the detainees to read. 

Some of the detainees would respectfully be addressed as “sir” or “uncle.”

But none of that takes away the fact that they were being held against their will for up to two years, while their families wondered if they were dead or alive. 

“My room had an iron bed, and I was given four blankets to make a mattress. A light bulb shone at all times, and an exhaust fan whirred at the corner of the door,” the detainee said.

The man, an ordinary professional, had been picked up from his home for his social media activity, supporting opposing political thoughts. 

A few days into captivity, he asked for a book to read. “They brought me the second part of a book, and when I asked for the first part, they said another detainee was reading it. Later on, when I asked for another specific title, they had that brought in from a bookstore,” he said. “Just the first page with the name of the store was torn out.” 

The detainees were not handcuffed or blindfolded inside their cells; one probable reason for this could be the fact that their cells had two doors – one with rungs like a jail cell, and another solid door – and so they could not see anything outside. 

“The food was slipped in through a trap door at the bottom of the door. I used to wash my hands inside the room,” he said. 

Every time they had to go out of their cells, however, a black hood cover had to be worn and their hands were cuffed. This was during bathroom visits. 

“Once the hood slipped, and my handler did not bother putting it back on. I saw a kitchen to my right, and a woman cooking in there,” he said. 

All food arrived hot and the detainees had a selection to choose from. “During lunch, I was given shaak, tilapia fish, two eggs and daal. When I told them that I didn’t want to eat farmed fish and egg, they brought me beef,” said one detainee. 

“During Ramadan, I used to be given hot milk, a big banana, rice, vegetables and proteins during sehri, and fruits, juices, fried snacks, chickpeas and sweets for iftar,” he described.

Several detainees described that during special days, they used to get feasts – parathas, vermicelli, rice and nut desserts for breakfast, and rich preparations of beef and chicken and rice for meals. 

“Every time I was taken for interrogation, I was asked whether I was being fed and treated well. But regardless of how well I am treated, this is no life. I was detached from my family and they completely destroyed my life,” one detainee described. 

As a guard once said to a detainee, “Over here, you will get whatever you ask for – unless you ask for something I can’t give you.” That something would be letting their friends and families know they were safe, learning the reason for their enforced disappearance, or knowing their fates. 

The detainees described two types of rooms: one facing a wall, and the other facing a balcony. 

The detainee whose cell faced a wall said that the solid door of his cell was kept open most of the time, but was closed every time someone had to be taken to the bathroom so that he could not see them. This detainee was taken in as a case of mistaken identity. 

Another detainee whose cell faced a balcony said he had a small ventilator window, through which he could catch glimpses of the outside world. His cell was on the ground floor. 

“Through a small grilled ventilator, I saw a jackfruit tree bearing fruit, and watched the fruit grow. I saw the rain, I heard birds. I used to hear a boy playing a guitar and his sister complaining to his mother about him,” he recounted. Right beside this normal, beautiful world, he lay hidden in his hole of solitary confinement.

“I once knocked on the wall to try and talk to the cellmate next to me, but there was no response. The walls were about 10 inches thick and very high,” he described. 

The detainee counted every single day. Using a tiny piece of wood, he would etch the dates at the bottom of the wall. The national days helped him keep track of dates – when he used to hear nationalistic or patriotic songs play outside, he would realise what date it was, he said. 

“Past inhabitants had written many things on the wall – from poetry, to Arabic writing, to Hindu religious symbols. One day, a few men came in and painted all over them,” he described.

Once he slipped and fell in the bathroom, and needed to go to a nearby hospital for an X-ray. 

“They put a hood over my head and led me into a vehicle. That was the first time I felt the sun on the hood covering my face. I heard rickshaw wallahs yelling at each other. I thought of pulling up my hood and running away, but then I thought they would shoot me or catch me. If they caught me, I would not be getting the comforts in my cell. I held onto the officers’ reassurance that when the time came, I would be home again,” he said. 

Another detainee described how he could hear a lot of crying from the next cell. “If he cried too much, he’d be taken somewhere. Then he’d come and sleep for a long time,” he said. 

The solitary confinement was what weighed hard on some of the detainees interviewed by this correspondent, such that they would go into lengthy details about the most mundane conversations they had with their guards – their only point of contact with the outside world. 

Some of them also spoke respectfully – almost fondly – about the handlers who treated them with the minimum dignity, almost as if glossing over the fact that the handlers, too, are captors complicit in this gross human rights violation.

It would be all too easy to discredit their statements as lies, since the interviewees are not revealing their identities. But upon hearing their testimonies, the question arises: Who would want to risk going back to that?