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Wikileaks: British Police Trained Bangladeshi Death Squads

Simon Whelan | 07.01.2011 10:27 | History | Repression | Terror War | Sheffield | World

Cables released by WikiLeaks reveal how the British government provides training to a Bangladeshi government paramilitary force specialising in executing political opponents.

The Rapid Action Battalion’s most recent killing was Anisur Rahman, a member of the Bangladeshi Communist Party in the western region of the country.

The Bangladesh government had promised to end the extra-judicial executions. In a radio discussion organised by the BBC, however, its fishing minister recently stated, “There are incidents of trials that are not possible under the laws of the land. The government will continue with extra-judicial killings commonly called ‘crossfire’, until terrorist activities and extortion are uprooted.”

“Crossfire” killings are a euphemism for an execution. Acting as judge, jury and executioner, a government-appointed Star Chamber decides who should die for their so-called crimes against the interests of the ruling clique and then the order goes out to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The WikiLeaks cables show that the British government facilitates this execution squad—providing it with training, the exact nature of which, in light of the ongoing brutal behaviour of British forces and inhumane conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, remains somewhat cloudy.

The training of the Bangladeshi RAB members in the UK has been carried out by the West Mercia and Humberside police forces. The courses are approved by the British Association of Chief Police Officers.

Washington reportedly refused to offer training to the RAB, citing its history of gross human rights violations. However, in one leaked cable, James Moriarty, the American ambassador in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, states, “The RAB enjoys a great deal of respect and admiration from a population scared by decreasing law and order over the last decade.”  http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/08/08DHAKA856.html

Moriarty expresses his opinion that the RAB “enforcement organisation is best positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation”.  http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/01/09DHAKA57.html

In another cable, Moriarty quotes British officials as stating they have been “training RAB for 18 months in areas such as investigative interviewing techniques and rules of engagement.”  http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/05/09DHAKA482.html

When asked by the Guardian newspaper, which published the WikiLeaks cables in the UK, a spokesperson for the British government claimed that the British state “provides a range of human rights assistance” to the RAB.

When questioned by the Guardian about the nature of the training provided to the squad, Mejbah Uddin, head of training at the RAB, said that he was not aware of any human rights training since he was appointed in summer.

In addition to the hundreds of executions committed by the RAB, the organisation also stands accused of the routine use of torture, kidnapping, extortion and accepting bribes in return for “crossfire” deaths. The RAB openly acknowledges that it is responsible for hundreds of deaths since its formation in 2004. The director general of the RAB admitted to 577 deaths at the hand of his operatives in “crossfire” incidents since the formation of the paramilitary organisation. This figure was updated in March of last year to 622. But human rights groups estimate that the RAB is responsible for at least 1,000 extra-judicial killings.

One of the major issues revealed by WikiLeaks is the ongoing relationship between the former colonial masters in London and Bangladesh. The leaked cables reveal that the British training of RAB began under the Blair Labour government in 1997, when it was promoting its so-called “ethical” foreign policy, and continues under the current Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition. The RAB confirmed that as recently as last October, RAB members took part in training in the UK.

For their part, the present administration in Dhaka campaigned during the last elections to end the rule of terror waged by the RAB against the Bangladeshi population. However, once elected into office, they have decided that mass murder has its uses after all.

A year ago, the high court in Dhaka ruled that the extra-judicial killings committed by the RAB be brought to a halt, but they have continued unabated, averaging a slaying every week. Most often young men—frequently leftists, but not always—are executed in the dead of night.

No one has been charged for a single death carried out by the RAB.

Ominously, the WikiLeaks cables also reveal that the US government surveys and analyses the statistics and contours of Muslim immigrant communities in the UK. The cables revealed information about the size and projected growth of the British Bangladeshi community, which is predominately Muslim.

Simon Whelan
- Homepage: http://wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/bang-j07.shtml

Additions

See Also...

07.01.2011 10:38

WikiLeaks cables: Bangladeshi 'death squad' trained by UK government
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/wikileaks-cables-british-police-bangladesh-death-squad

Government faces legal challenge over training of Bangladeshi 'death squad'
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/23/bangladesh-death-squad-legal-challenge

WikiLeaks: Bangladeshi 'death squad' trained by British Government
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8218680/WikiLeaks-Bangladeshi-death-squad-trained-by-British-Government.html

WikiLeaks: Britain-trained Bangladeshi police force accused of human rights violations
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340717/WikiLeaks-Britain-trained-Bangladeshi-police-force-accused-human-rights-violations.html

And from before cablegate:

Fresh torture allegations raised over third British man held in Bangladesh

"Mostafa, a chemist from Stockport, Greater Manchester – who was once accused, but cleared, of involvement in al-Qaida's first plot to attack the UK – is said to have been suspended from his wrists and his ankles for long periods, subjected to electric shocks, beaten on the soles of his feet, deprived of food and exposed to bright lights for long periods."

"Lawyers representing two other British nationals of Bangladeshi origin have said they were detained and tortured while being questioned about terrorism offences, and allege there is clear evidence that MI5 was involved in the mistreatment."

"Counterterrorism officials in Dhaka have told the Guardian that, at the request of UK intelligence officials, they have investigated about 12 British nationals of Bangladeshi origin in recent years, and indicated that this was done in a manner that would have been unlawful in Britain. One senior Bangladeshi official said the questions that were being asked about these individuals "could not have been dealt with by British law - because of the question of human rights"."

"After being detained and allegedly tortured in Bangladesh in March last year, Mostafa is said to have been questioned about his co-defendants in both these trials. When he was brought to court a month later, accused of hoarding firearms and explosives at a madrasa he was managing at Bhola, in the south-west of the country, the magistrate questioned him about each case."

"Mostafa was arrested by a Bangladeshi unit called the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), days after the weapons were alleged to have been discovered. He was held at a secret location by RAB - notorious in Bangladesh for reports of hundreds of extrajudicial killings and frequent use of torture - for about 13 days before his capture was officially announced. RAB said at the time of his arrest, they had "shared information" with British intelligence as part of "bilateral co-operation"."

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/01/bangladesh-british-terror-torture-allegations

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