Enforced Disappearance and Hidden Prisons in Bangladesh
Over the past year, a cluster of investigative reports and documentary videos, produced by major international and regional media outlets, non-profits, and human-rights groups, have documented the discovery of secret detention sites, allegations of systematic torture and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh, and the aftermath following the resignation and exile of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Following is a concise roundup of the news reports.
Sky News’s longform investigation provides on-the-ground reporting from inside one of the alleged secret jails in Dhaka, describing graphic survivor testimony and physical evidence that prosecutors say demonstrates a network of hidden detention centres run during Sheikh Hasina’s years in power. The piece lays out survivor accounts of electric shocks, severe beatings, shackling, and other torture methods, describes forensic challenges (many bodies disposed of in rivers), and reports that a commission established by Bangladesh’s interim government had received hundreds, and possibly thousands, of complaints about enforced disappearances. Sky frames these allegations in the wider political context of mass protests in August 2024 that precipitated Hasina’s resignation and the interim investigations that followed.
The corresponding video report by Sky News is as follows:
BBC’s investigation report into a site close to a major airport documents eyewitness testimony and reporting that corroborate claims of a clandestine detention facility adjacent to official security infrastructure. The article traces how detainees were allegedly moved, held in windowless cells, and subjected to harsh interrogations — and it situates those findings within the legal and political developments that followed Hasina’s exit. The BBC reporting emphasises survivors’ voices and the challenges families face in obtaining records or official recognition of disappearances.
Corresponding video report by BBC is as follows:
Another aspect, focusing on the survivor stories of the victims, was highlighted in another video report by BBC.
A second BBC news feature focuses on survivors from Aynaghor (a codename used in reporting), giving space to their personal accounts of detention, torture, and the long-term psychological and social consequences. It highlights the work of support networks formed by relatives of the disappeared and details the interim commission’s caseload and its stated ambitions to establish accountability. Together with the other BBC piece, it provides both local testimony and an explanation of ongoing legal steps.
The Al Jazeera report highlights the exposure of the secret jails and enforced disappearances, with regards to the visit of the Hon’ble Chief Adviser of Bangladesh. The Al Jazeera piece focuses on first-person testimony and international human-rights perspectives, adding regional analysis to the global coverage.
Yeni Şafak’s video (Turkish outlet) provides a different regional editorial perspective on the developments in Bangladesh. In this documentary, Yeni Şafak International uncovers the hidden truths of Aynaghar, Bangladesh’s infamous secret prison. Through powerful firsthand testimonies, survivors recount their harrowing experiences of life behind its walls, stories of unimaginable suffering, enforced disappearances, and human rights abuses. This film sheds light on their bravery in breaking years of silence, revealing a dark chapter in Bangladesh’s history that demands accountability and justice.
During a recent visit to Bangladesh, the team documented conditions inside a secret detention site once operated by security forces under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Among the survivors they met was lawyer Mir Ahmad BinQuasem, known as Arman, who endured eight years of brutal captivity in one of the facility’s cells. Arman had been targeted because of his family ties; his father, a senior opposition leader, was prosecuted in what has been described as an unfair trial and later executed. His survival and release, following the fall of Hasina’s government after the July Revolution, stands as a rare exception in a system where many never returned. One year on, Arman’s story underscores the urgent need for justice, accountability, and reparations for victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other serious human-rights abuses.
On 10th March 2020, photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol left his home to go to work. He never returned. The survivor of an alleged enforced disappearance, today Shafiqul Islam Kajol remains in jail on charges filed under Bangladesh’s heavily criticised Digital Security Act. This is his story, his family’s story and also the story of Bangladesh’s war on the media.
Le Monde profiled several survivors released after Hasina’s downfall, including Michael Chakma and Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, recounting years of torture and disappearance in secret sites. It linked their ordeals to the broader political shift brought about by the July 2024 student revolution, which forced Hasina from power. The article also reported on the interim government’s pledge to investigate past abuses and bring justice to the hundreds of families still searching for their disappeared relatives.
CBC gathered testimonies from survivors who endured prolonged detention in Hasina’s secret prisons. They recounted being cut off from family, tortured, and held in dehumanising conditions. The article highlighted how speaking out remains risky, but survivors hope their accounts will push for recognition of the abuses, accountability for perpetrators, and support for victims. Human rights groups cited in the report stress that the scale of disappearances reflects deep structural abuses in Bangladesh’s security apparatus.
The New York Times detailed the experiences of multiple survivors of Aynaghar, including Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem (“Arman”), Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, Maroof Zaman, and Michael Chakma. They described years of secret captivity in underground cells designed to erase their existence, with constant artificial noise, total isolation, torture, and psychological torment. Their release after Hasina’s ouster in August 2024 brought these abuses to light, intensifying calls for accountability, justice, and reparations.
The Guardian spotlighted the story of Michael Chakma, an Indigenous activist abducted in 2019 and secretly detained for over five years. He endured extreme isolation and torture in conditions so dire that his family assumed he was dead and held a funeral for him. His eventual release came after the fall of Hasina’s government in August 2024, though the article stresses that countless others remain missing, leaving families in anguish and demanding justice.
VOA interviewed two survivors of Aynaghar, documenting how they were forcibly disappeared, transported blindfolded, and held in isolation under harsh conditions. They described constant noise from exhaust fans, lack of daylight, and mistreatment amounting to torture. Human rights groups cited in the report estimate that hundreds of people disappeared during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, many of whom remain unaccounted for, while survivors continue to fear speaking out.
Netra News exposed claims that Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) was operating a secret detention facility in Dhaka known as Aynaghar. Survivors described being abducted, blindfolded, and taken to the facility, where they were kept in windowless cells, subjected to torture, and denied all contact with the outside world. The report included whistleblower accounts, detailed descriptions of the site, and evidence suggesting that enforced disappearances had become systematic under Sheikh Hasina’s government.
Conclusion
Across mainstream news outlets and the videos and briefings produced by geography-specific media and rights organisations, a consistent narrative emerges: survivors’ testimonies and on-site reporting point to the existence of clandestine detention facilities, allegations of severe torture and enforced disappearances, and a complex political aftermath following the mass protests of August 2024 and the resignation of the former prime minister.
The news investigations provide detailed documentary reporting and survivor interviews that together form the backbone of the public record; regional media and human-rights organisations add complementary perspectives: legal analysis, advocacy, and alternative editorial framings that are essential for a full understanding of the allegations and the possible avenues for accountability.