DHAKA, Jan 19, 2026 (BSS) – The prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 today urged the court to establish a clear precedent of accountability and responsibility so that the heinous crime of enforced disappearance can never again raise its head in Bangladesh.

“The prosecution believes that the trial of these unprecedented and heinous crimes in Bangladesh’s history is not merely about addressing accountability for crimes committed in the past, but rather about making a solemn commitment to the future,” Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said.

He said this while making his opening statement in a case filed over enforced disappearances and torture at the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) during the previous Awami League government.

He said that if the culprits accused in enforced disappearances go unpunished, forces loyal to fascism learn that people can simply be made to vanish. 

“But if this tribunal ensures justice, the state will learn that its citizens can never be subjected to enforced disappearance under any circumstances,” Tajul Islam added.

 The chief prosecutor said the court is not merely seeking to trace missing persons or to offer consolation to those who were forcibly disappeared and later returned alive. 

“We are searching for the boundary of humanity — a boundary that has been repeatedly violated through these crimes,” he said.

 He said that the core basis of the prosecution’s case rests on the testimonies of survivor victims who were held in enforced disappearance at JIC facilities and later returned in different ways.

 He told the tribunal that some victims were released by being abandoned on roadsides, while others were shown arrested in fabricated cases and sent to jail. 

“Some victims were transferred to other secret detention facilities, where they were again kept disappeared for prolonged periods,” he added.

The chief prosecutor said testimonies will also come from the victims’ family members, who themselves endured prolonged suffering due to the crimes. 

He said newspaper reports, mobile phone location records, general diaries filed with police stations, and court documents will clearly establish the timeline of disappearances and the precise dates and times of the victims’ reappearance.

He said these testimonies will be corroborated by investigation and inquiry reports conducted by various government and non-government organisations, which contain irrefutable evidence of enforced disappearance and torture.

 The chief prosecutor also said the entire architecture of enforced disappearance — from abduction to release — was deliberately designed to erase all traces of evidence. 

In some instances, detention sites, documents and crucial evidence were permanently destroyed, he added.

 “In reviewing the evidence, it is therefore essential for the tribunal to take this reality into careful consideration,” Tajul Islam said.

 He said the trial concerns crimes committed against 26 survivor victims who were forcibly disappeared and detained at the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) between 2016 and 2024.
 
He added that, besides these 26 individuals, numerous other persons were also detained at the JIC during the same period and investigations into their cases are ongoing.
The chief prosecutor said there are 13 accused in the case, including two who held the highest positions in the state — ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former security and defence affairs adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique.

On December 18, 2025, the ICT-1 framed five charges against 13 accused, including Sheikh Hasina, and fixed January 19 for submission of 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 accused — Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui and Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui — are in custody and facing trial in person. They 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 rule.

The prosecution has also filed another case bringing five charges against 17 accused, including Sheikh Hasina and Tarique Ahmed Siddique, over similar crimes allegedly committed at the TFI Cell.