Enforced Disappearance15 officers taken into custody: Army

A total of 15 army officers facing arrest warrants issued by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on charges of crimes against humanity were taken into custody on 9 October, according to the Bangladesh Army.

Maj Gen Md Hakimuzzaman, adjutant general of the army, shared the information during a press briefing at Dhaka Cantonment on Saturday.

The officers are: Major General Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Major General Kabir Ahmed, Brigadier General Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui, Brigadier General Ahmed Tanvir Mazahar Siddiqui, Brigadier General Md Jahangir Alam, Brigadier General Tofail Mostafa Sarwar, Brigadier General Md Kamrul Hasan, Brigadier General Md Mahabub Alam, Colonel Anwar Latif Khan, Colonel KM Azad, Colonel Abdullah Al Momen, Lieutenant Colonel Sarwar Bin Kashem, Lieutenant Colonel Mashiur Rahman Jewel and Lieutenant Colonel Saiful Islam Sumon.

One Maj Gen Kabir could not be taken into custody, he said, adding that the Army Headquarters asked the authorities concerned so that Kabir cannot flee from the country.

Fourteen of them are currently serving, while another is on LPR (leave preparatory to retirement), Major General Md Hakimuzzaman told the media at the Dhaka Cantonment in the afternoon (October 11).

At the briefing, Maj Gen Hakimuzzaman said they took action upon learning about the warrants, but they have yet to receive copies of those.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on October 8 ordered the arrest of 24 former and serving army officers for their alleged roles in perpetrating crimes against humanity and enforced disappearances. The court ordered that they be arrested by October 21 and produced before it the next day.