Barrister Arman recounts 8-year confinement in Aynaghar at ICT-1

An enforced disappearance victim yesterday told the International Crimes Tribunal that a guard at his secret detention centre informed him his body weight had been measured days after his abduction so that a concrete slab of the same weight could be prepared to dump his body after killing him, ensuring it would never be recovered.

Testifying as the first prosecution witness in a crimes against humanity case, Mir Ahmed BinQuasem said the guard also told him that authorities initially planned to kill him and dispose of his body in a river in Barishal after disfiguring his face and hands with acid to prevent identification.

Also known as Barrister Arman, he gave a detailed account of his eight-year confinement in the “Aynaghar” before ICT-1 while testifying in a case over enforced disappearance linked to the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell, allegedly operated under the Rab.

He said the plan was abandoned only after the officer assigned to carry out the killing was killed in a terrorist attack and the alleged mastermind, Ziaul Ahsan, was transferred from Rab.

The son of executed Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, who was convicted of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, Arman said senior officials frequently visited his cell. 

During those visits, he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and ordered to remain silent. He said he could identify their seniority from mobile phone sounds, expensive perfumes, and even “conversations in Hindi”.

He told the tribunal he was abducted on the night of August 9, 2016, when seven to eight armed men in plainclothes entered his Pallabi residence, identified themselves as members of a “state force”, and took him away without showing any warrant.

According to the prosecution, at least 14 detainees were confined and tortured at the TFI cell between 2016 and 2024. 

The case names 17 accused, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her former defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, three former Rab chiefs, and 11 army officers who previously served in Rab. Ten of the accused army officers were present in the dock, while the others remain absconding.

Barrister Arman said he was taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a narrow, damp cell inside the Rab headquarters compound, where he was held in inhuman conditions amid rats and cockroaches. 

He said items inside the cell bore markings such as “RAB-1”, “RAB/INT”, and “TFI”, which he cited as evidence of official involvement.

He testified that he frequently fell ill, once suffering heatstroke and later developing a severe abscess that required minor surgery. 

He alleged his food was often contaminated with chemicals and said he was initially denied a copy of the Holy Quran. He also said he regularly heard screams of other detainees being tortured.

He further said one night he was driven for about 30 minutes and thrown out of a vehicle, believing he was about to be killed. He later realised he had been released near a construction site in Diabari, Uttara.

He also submitted a pendrive containing a video documentary on his return, prepared by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and published from the verified Facebook page of the Chief Adviser, which was marked as an exhibit.

The witness will continue his testimony.