Prosecutors at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 have urged the court to establish a clear and lasting precedent of accountability to ensure that enforced disappearances never recur in the country.
Delivering his opening statement on Monday, Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said the case before the tribunal was not only about addressing past crimes but also about safeguarding the future. He told the court that the trial represented a “solemn commitment” to prevent the return of practices that he described as among the most heinous in Bangladesh’s history.
The case relates to allegations of enforced disappearances and torture carried out at the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) during the previous Awami League government. Tajul Islam said failure to punish those responsible would send a dangerous message, allowing what he termed 'fascist forces' to believe that individuals could simply be made to vanish without consequence.
However, he said, if justice is ensured through the tribunal, it would affirm a fundamental principle: that citizens can never be subjected to enforced disappearance under any circumstances.
The chief prosecutor stressed that the court’s role went beyond locating missing persons or offering consolation to survivors who later returned alive. Instead, he said, the proceedings sought to define the boundary of humanity, a boundary that had been repeatedly crossed through the alleged crimes.
According to the prosecution, the case rests primarily on the testimonies of survivor victims who were forcibly disappeared, detained at JIC facilities and later released in different ways. Tajul Islam told the tribunal that some victims were abandoned on roadsides, while others were falsely shown as arrested in fabricated cases and sent to prison. He said several were transferred to other secret detention facilities, where they remained disappeared for extended periods.
He added that testimony would also come from family members of the victims, who endured prolonged suffering as a result of the disappearances. The prosecution plans to present documentary and digital evidence, including newspaper reports, mobile phone location data, general diaries filed at police stations and court records, to establish clear timelines of abductions and reappearances.
These accounts, he said, would be corroborated by investigation and inquiry reports prepared by both government and non-government organisations, which he described as containing irrefutable evidence of enforced disappearance and torture.
Tajul Islam also told the tribunal that the entire system of enforced disappearance from abduction to eventual release had been deliberately designed to erase evidence. In some cases, he said, detention sites, documents and other crucial materials were permanently destroyed, urging the court to take this reality into account when reviewing the evidence.
The trial concerns crimes allegedly committed against 26 survivor victims who were forcibly disappeared and detained at the JIC between 2016 and 2024. The chief prosecutor said investigations were continuing into the cases of many other individuals who were also detained at the facility during the same period.
There are 13 accused in the case, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former security and defence affairs adviser, Tarique Ahmed Siddique. On December 18, 2025, ICT-1 framed five charges against the accused and set January 19 for the prosecution’s opening statement.
The other accused are Md Akbar Hossain, Md Saiful Abedin, Md Saiful Alam, Md Tabrej Shams Chowdhury, Hamidul Haque, Mohammad Touhidul Islam, Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Kabir Ahammed, Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui, Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui and Mokhchurul Haque.
Three of the accused, Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui and Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui, are currently in custody and are facing trial in person. All have pleaded not guilty.
Earlier, on October 8, the tribunal took cognisance of charges against 30 people, including Sheikh Hasina, in two separate cases over enforced disappearances and torture allegedly committed at the Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) Cell and the JIC during the Awami League’s time in office. Prosecutors have also filed another case against 17 accused, including Sheikh Hasina and Tarique Ahmed Siddique, over similar allegations linked to the TFI Cell.
