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A Bangladeshi court has ordered law enforcement agencies to locate a fisherman last seen in Coast Guard custody, in what appears to be the country’s first enforced disappearance case since the 2024 uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government. Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged authorities Sunday to comply with the July 12 High Court order and to reverse a rollback of reforms meant to prevent such cases.
Multiple witnesses reportedly saw Coast Guard officers detain Miraj Sheikh, 30, on the night of April 10 in Joymonir Ghol, near the Sundarbans forest in Mongla, and take him away by speedboat, HRW said.
The following day, Miraj’s family went to the Coast Guard office in Digraj, Mongla, where officers initially said he was on an operation and told them to return that afternoon. When they did, the Coast Guard said he had never been there.
After complaints to officials and a news conference produced no results, Miraj’s father filed a habeas corpus petition, which lets detainees challenge their confinement. On July 12, the High Court ordered law enforcement agencies to find him and produce him in court within 15 days.
Lieutenant Commander Mahbub Hossain, media officer for the Coast Guard’s Western Zone, has repeatedly denied that the force detained Miraj, telling reporters that the Coast Guard had no information about him, according to HRW.
HRW said the case echoes practices under the previous government, which was ousted by protests in 2024 and replaced by an interim government that governed from August 2024 until elections in February 2026. The newly elected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government has since dismantled the interim government’s accountability framework, HRW said. An interim government commission documented 1,569 disappearances between 2009 and 2024, at least 251 of them people who never returned.
The BNP government allowed two 2025 ordinances to lapse — the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance and the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance — which together would have provided for independent investigations, the power to inspect any detention facility without a court order, and possible referral of cases to the International Crimes Tribunal. It instead proposed legislation that would bar the Human Rights Commission from investigating alleged violations by security forces. These amendments have previously been criticized by rights organizations for weakening the authority of the National Human Rights Commission and undermining its independence from the executive.
Bangladesh acceded in August 2024 to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which requires states parties to criminalize enforced disappearances and to take all necessary measures to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s deputy Asia director, urged the Bangladeshi government to amend its legislation to restore the Human Rights Commission’s authority to investigate alleged enforced disappearances and to remove any interference in its work.
The human rights situation in Bangladesh has attracted global attention following the 2024 protests, which forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India. In March 2026, HRW urged the newly elected government to promote human rights by enacting legislation that protects fundamental rights and freedoms. However, the government received criticism for persistent human rights abuses following the arrest of four individuals for posting social media content that criticized the government.
The post Bangladesh court orders search for fisherman missing after Coast Guard detention appeared first on JURIST - News.
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Multiple witnesses reportedly saw Coast Guard officers detain Miraj Sheikh, 30, on the night of April 10 in Joymonir Ghol, near the Sundarbans forest in Mongla, and take him away by speedboat, HRW said.
The following day, Miraj’s family went to the Coast Guard office in Digraj, Mongla, where officers initially said he was on an operation and told them to return that afternoon. When they did, the Coast Guard said he had never been there.
After complaints to officials and a news conference produced no results, Miraj’s father filed a habeas corpus petition, which lets detainees challenge their confinement. On July 12, the High Court ordered law enforcement agencies to find him and produce him in court within 15 days.
Lieutenant Commander Mahbub Hossain, media officer for the Coast Guard’s Western Zone, has repeatedly denied that the force detained Miraj, telling reporters that the Coast Guard had no information about him, according to HRW.
HRW said the case echoes practices under the previous government, which was ousted by protests in 2024 and replaced by an interim government that governed from August 2024 until elections in February 2026. The newly elected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government has since dismantled the interim government’s accountability framework, HRW said. An interim government commission documented 1,569 disappearances between 2009 and 2024, at least 251 of them people who never returned.
The BNP government allowed two 2025 ordinances to lapse — the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance and the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance — which together would have provided for independent investigations, the power to inspect any detention facility without a court order, and possible referral of cases to the International Crimes Tribunal. It instead proposed legislation that would bar the Human Rights Commission from investigating alleged violations by security forces. These amendments have previously been criticized by rights organizations for weakening the authority of the National Human Rights Commission and undermining its independence from the executive.
Bangladesh acceded in August 2024 to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which requires states parties to criminalize enforced disappearances and to take all necessary measures to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s deputy Asia director, urged the Bangladeshi government to amend its legislation to restore the Human Rights Commission’s authority to investigate alleged enforced disappearances and to remove any interference in its work.
The human rights situation in Bangladesh has attracted global attention following the 2024 protests, which forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India. In March 2026, HRW urged the newly elected government to promote human rights by enacting legislation that protects fundamental rights and freedoms. However, the government received criticism for persistent human rights abuses following the arrest of four individuals for posting social media content that criticized the government.
The post Bangladesh court orders search for fisherman missing after Coast Guard detention appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.