Hundreds likely killed under Hasina rule in Bangladesh, probe says

DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — A state-appointed inquiry into enforced disappearances during the tenure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has concluded that hundreds of missing people are likely to have been killed, with evidence pointing to clandestine burials and bodies disposed of in rivers across the country.

The commission, established after Hasina was removed from office following mass protests in August 2024, reviewed more than 1,500 complaints of abduction. Investigators said at least 287 individuals are presumed dead, based on testimony, site inspections, and corroborating records gathered during the inquiry.

According to the panel’s findings, several unmarked burial sites were located in different regions, while other victims were believed to have been thrown into waterways, including the Buriganga River that runs through the capital. The commission has urged the government to seek international forensic assistance to exhume remains, preserve DNA evidence, and help families identify the missing.

In its final submission to authorities this week, the inquiry said security agencies operated under political direction at the time, linking senior officials to patterns of unlawful detention and disappearance. Many of those targeted, the report noted, were associated with opposition groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, both of which were prominent adversaries of Hasina’s government.

Parallel criminal investigations are now under way. In December, police began exhuming a mass grave in Dhaka connected to violence during the uprising. Investigators said multiple bodies recovered from the site bore gunshot wounds, reinforcing allegations of lethal force used against protesters.

International assessments have also underscored the scale of the violence. The United Nations has estimated that as many as 1,400 people were killed nationwide during the security crackdown as the former government sought to retain power.

For families of the disappeared, the findings have brought a mix of grief and long-delayed clarity. Relatives of those identified in the Dhaka grave said knowing where their loved ones were buried ended years of uncertainty, but stressed that truth alone was not enough. They are demanding swift prosecutions of officials accused of ordering or carrying out the killings.

Hasina, who left the country amid the unrest, was sentenced to death in absentia in November on charges related to crimes against humanity. Legal proceedings linked to the disappearance cases are expected to shape Bangladesh’s broader reckoning with alleged abuses committed during her rule.