Amnesty urges fair trials in Bangladesh mutiny
Posted: 12 November 2009 1016 hrs

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WASHINGTON: Amnesty International called for Bangladesh to ensure accountability over its February mutiny and said that dozens if not hundreds suspected of involvement suffered torture.

The London-based human rights group said that suspects detained after the mutiny described torture methods including the insertion of needles under their nails and the use of pliers to crush their testicles.

Seventy-four people, including 57 senior army officers, were killed in the bloody siege at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in the capital Dhaka on February 25-26.

After negotiating an end to the mutiny, authorities detained thousands of suspected mutineers. The Bangladesh Rifles says 48 have died but has denied allegations that some were tortured to death.

In a report made public on Thursday, Amnesty International voiced concern about both the mutiny and the aftermath.

"This is an opportunity for the government of Bangladesh to show its commitment to the international human rights treaties that it has ratified by ensuring that those suspected of committing crimes are brought to justice under internationally recognised fair trial standards," it said.

The report said that dozens, if not hundreds, of personnel from the Bangladesh Rifles suffered torture in custody.

One woman whose husband was arrested in April told Amnesty International that she barely recognised him when she saw him at a court hearing.

"He looked very ill. When I got closer, I saw blood around his toenails," she said.

"He could talk to me for a few minutes. He told me he had been blindfolded for the previous 15 days, had not been allowed to sleep for more than one hour a day, and has had electric shocks applied to his head," she said.

The mutiny took place the month after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's civilian government took charge, ending two years of military-backed rule.

The mutineers initially said they were protesting over pay and conditions, but the secular-minded government has alleged that Islamic militants helped carry out the uprising.


- AFP/so