‘We Are Tonu’: Why has the murder of a 19-year-old student sparked mass protests in Bangladesh?

By Tasmiah Rahman / 20 April 2016 / Open Democracy

Tonu was an ordinary 19 year old girl, who got unlucky. According to the initial posts on Facebook, her body was found near Comilla cantonment, outside Comilla city in eastern Bangladesh, on 20 March and there was evidence she had been raped before she was murdered. When she did not return home after tutoring a student, her father started looking for her. Little did he know that he would have to find his daughter lying lifeless near a culvert. Her head had been crushed, her hair pulled out and she had sustained injuries all over her body.

The news of the murder took social media by storm. The day after she was found, the hashtag#JusticeforTonu began to circulate in protest. Newspapers also began to publish numerous articles on rape and how such crimes are on the rise due to lack of timely punishment. Looking at the rape statistics, there has been a marked increase in recent years. According to police headquarters data, in 2014, some 4,642 rape cases were filed, up from 4,538 in 2013. The One Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College reports that four to five women are reported to be raped every day, while the Women and Child Repression division of the police has recorded 21,220 cases of abuse in 2015. According to Ain o Shalish Kendro, a prominent national legal aid and human rights organisation, in January-February 2016, there were 105 rape incidents reported. In three cases the victim had died and two had committed suicide after the rape. These are only a glimpse of rapes and abuses as many go unreported given the social stigma around such incidents.

Rape news is thus common in Bangladesh. But why Tonu’s murder in particular resulted in such strong social media outcry followed by a nationwide protest, needs further probing. Below are a few issues that I believe are essential to look at while investigating the murder and its relation to the public protests:

1. Enough is enough: Tonu’s friends on social media started posting the news of her death and asked others to share it. Many have expressed how they knew her and how much she was loved. For the first couple of days, the murder was not reported by prominent media houses, but her friends vocally criticised their silence and demanded that her story be heard. They also put pressure on the police to put proper effort in investigating her murder.

The protests on social media soon turned into protests on the streets. Even though the demonstrations began in Comilla, they quickly spread in other districts like Dhaka and Chittagong. A Facebook page was set up titled, ‘We are Tonu’ encouraging university students in Dhaka and nationwide to support the protests, and Dhaka University students called for a temporary closure of educational institutions on April 3. Gonojagoron Mancha, a platform for mass protests established after the sensational war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh, also endorsed the growing movement. They helped to mobilise 30,000-40,000 students to block one of the main intersections in the capital, and announced a month-long programme demanding maximum punishment for the criminals. The slogans spoke out against oppression and justice being denied to victims and their families.

2. No trust in the investigation: Tonu’s body underwent two autopsies. After the first autopsy, the police reported that Tonu was raped and murdered. Nine days after the murder when the police had failed to make headway on the killer/s, the case was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department on the basis that they are better equipped to carry out ‘sensitive’ investigations. As the first report failed to explain the cause of death, Tonu’s body was exhumed for the second autopsy. This time, there were allegedly no signs of rape found but the exact details were unclear as the report was not made public. The chaotic investigation therefore stirred further frustration amongst the public.

3. Class struggle: Tonu’s father was a fourth class worker in the cantonment board. Even though they lived in a protected area like the cantonment, many speculated that had he been someone influential, his daughter’s case would have attracted more attention from the law enforcement agencies. Tonu had been travelling home from tutoring students, a job she did to boost her family’s income. Many other middle class students take on tutoring to earn money for tuition or pocket money so she was someone public university students could relate to.

The rights organisation Ain o Shalish Kendro added its voice to the protest when stories of ‘harassment’ and interrogation of family members surfaced. Reports suggested law enforcement agencies were pressurising Tonu’s parents to agree to their own prescribed statements. Campaigners and protestors alike objected to the apparently tangible example of the ill treatment of the poor and middle class that is practiced in every sphere of the society.

4. Law makers are the breakers: there has been speculation that the perpetrators were law enforcers themselves, given that her body was found in a high security military cantonment. Even though there are laws are in place, loopholes in the legal system and the lack of effective implementation mean people with power can invariably go without being punished or even identified. Stories of rapists threatening family members and witnesses are not uncommon. Even when ordinary citizens know who is responsible for crimes like abuse, rape and murder, many family members and witnesses are silenced as a result of intimidation by law enforcers, political goons and by influence of money and political power.

5. Modesty does not keep you safe: the young demonstrators are challenging the age old mainstream belief of victim blaming by both the society and the law enforcement agencies. Tonu wore a hijab and practiced Islam, underlining that attire can never protect a women from being targeted and sparking debates on the issue of ensuring the safety of all women, not just women that cover themselves.

***

The younger generation is demanding justice not just for Tonu but for all victims of rape and murder that go unpunished. The social media and media messages are calling for exemplary justice, so that other girls like Tonu do not have to live in fear. Yet exactly a month after the murder the criminals remain at large, and the police do not even seem close to capturing the culprits, just as so many of the protesters anticipated.

Having said that, this discussion highlights the ‘We are Tonu’ movement is also based on wider grievances which demonstrate the youth in Bangladesh are tired and frustrated with the current institutions and power structures. Issues like those outlined above need to be discussed more widely and addressed at national level so that effective preventive measures can be taken.

This article was originally published on the LSE blog.

Exclusive: US Court Dismissed Claim of Plot to Injure Bangladesh PM Son

By David Bergman on 20/04/2016

Dhaka: US court records contradict the Bangladesh government’s claims that the conviction a year ago of three men in New York for illegally obtaining confidential FBI records involved a plot to kill the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

Indeed, the US district court judge who tried the case specifically dismissed prosecutors’ claims that the men planned to ‘physically harm’ Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of Sheikh Hasina.

The US court’s findings made during the sentencing in March 2015 of the three men who pleaded guilty to bribery offences, conflict directly with the basis of the criminal case that led to the arrest in Dhaka last Saturday of the prominent journalist Shafik Rehman for conspiring in the so-called plot to ‘kidnap and kill’ Wazed.

Rehman, who edits the magazine Mouchake Dhil and convenes the international affairs committee of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was arrested on Saturday from his home after three police officers pretended to be reporters from a private television station.

Mahmadur Rahman, the former editor of the daily newspaper Amar Desh, who has been jailed since 2013 on various cases, was on Monday also ‘shown arrested’ in the same case.

The US court’s findings, published for the first time by The Wire also contradicts Wazed’s widely publicised claims that the three men convicted by the US court,  were jailed “for this plot” to kill him, and that the “evidence” behind the arrest of Rehman “comes directly from this [US] case.”

Wazed and the filing of a case in Bangladesh 

The bribery case in the US first came to public attention in Bangladesh when Wazed published a Facebook post on March 9, 2013 stating that he had provided a victim statement before the New York Court sentenced Rizve Ahmed (aka Caesar), the son of the vice-president of the cultural wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Wazed’s Facebook page is ‘liked’ by over 1.7 million people and his comments are widely covered in the media.

Ahmed, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, had pleaded guilty to two offences relating to bribing an FBI agent to obtain confidential financial and other records relating to the Bangladeshi prime minister’s son.

Wazed, without mentioning the nature of offences before the US court, stated that, “Caesar was promised US $40,000 per month and given the first payment of US $30,000 in cash directly from very senior BNP leaders in Bangladesh. I cannot disclose their names because the investigation is ongoing. The BNP had planned to kidnap me and kill me here in the US.”

Wazed’s Facebook post resulted in the police in May 2015 filing a General Diary entry, referring to the criminal conviction of the three men in the US as well as the allegation made by Wazed that the BNP has planned to kill him.

Three months later, the police filed a first information report with the court, which claimed that the father of Ahmed, along with other BNP leaders living in Bangladesh and abroad had conspired to “kidnap and kill Joy (Wazed) in America” and that Ahmed had already been jailed in the US “as part of this conspiracy.”

A few hours after Rehman was arrested on Saturday for his involvement in this criminal case, Wazed posted a further Facebook post.

It stated: “Today our Government arrested a senior “journalist” and opposition BNP leader Shafik Rehman for his involvement in a plot to kidnap and kill me in the US. A US BNP leader’s son, a former FBI agent and another American friend of both are already serving time in the US for this plot. …. The evidence against “journalist” Shafik Rehman comes directly from this case.”

And just for good measure, he tweeted much the same: Journalist #ShafikRehman arrested for BNP plot to kidnap and kill @sajeebwazed. Evidence from US DOJ case.

Later that day, in arguing that Shafiq should be remanded in custody, the police told the magistrate that the US court had jailed Ahmed for his involvement in a plot to kill the prime minister’s son and that the journalist had conspired with him in this endeavour.

The US bribery scheme

However publicly available US court documents tell a rather different story to the one narrated by Wazed and by the police.

The bribery scheme, which involved three men – Ahmed who gave the money, and FBI special agent Robert Lustyik and their mutual friend Johannes Thaler who took the money – started in September 2011.

Ahmed is described by prosecutors as ‘a devotee of and affiliated with the Bangladesh National Party’ who sought to ‘assist his political allies and harm his political opponents’

In December, in exchange for $1000, Thaler gave Ahmed a number of confidential documents about Wazed, which Lustyik had illegally obtained from FBI databases.

These included, according to the government sentencing report filed with the court in February 2015, “an internal memorandum (the ‘FBI Memo’) that referred to Individual 1 and a sum of $300 million, and a confidential report, known as a Suspicious Activity Report (the ‘SAR’) that also referred to Individual 1.” Individual 1 refers to Wazed.

Banks or financial institutions are required to file a SAR report when they identify any suspicious financial transactions. The court documents did not provide any further information about the reference to ‘$300 million’

After further discussions, Ahmed agreed in principle to pay the two other men a $40,000 retainer fee and $30,000 per month in exchange for additional information on Wazed. According to prosecutors, Ahmed represented himself to the men as someone who “was working with multiple associates who also sought the documents and information and were willing to pay for them.”

Ahmed was particularly interested in getting more information about the ‘$300 million’.  In one text, set out in the indictment, he wrote: “Just give me some idea what exactly you have on them … The last documents you gave me about $300 millions. How far that investigation went n what they found. Give me some idea and I will get u that contract!!!” (sic)

On January 29, 2012, the three men along with ‘three associates of Ahmed’s’ met at Ahmed’s residence to discuss exchanging additional confidential law enforcement information for further cash payments.

However, no contract was signed, and no new money changed hands.

After the three men were arrested, they all pleaded guilty to the commission of bribery offences. None of them were charged with any offence concerned with seeking to physically harm Wazed or anyone else.

Rizve Ahmed’s objective in bribing the FBI officer

In seeking to get a more severe sentence, the prosecution in its sentencing submission, claimed that Ahmed had admitted to them during an interview that one of his purposes in bribing the FBI agent to obtain information about Wazed was to “scare,” “kidnap,” and “hurt” him.

However, at the time of sentencing, the judge dismissed the prosecution claim that Ahmed had obtained the information with an intention to physically harm Wazed.

“The [US] government’s contention that [Rizve] Ahmed in fact sought to kidnap and physically harm an individual is a stretch,” Judge Vincent L. Briccetti said in March 2015 when he sentenced Ahmed to 44 months imprisonment for the bribery offences.

“I just don’t feel there’s enough evidence that’s been presented to me for me to make that finding,” the judge of the Southern District Court of New York said according to court transcripts. “[T]he statements [Ahmed] made about it were conflicting. At first he said he did, then he said he didn’t. I don’t know which is true.”

He added that in the exchanges between the three men, “There’s no talk … about doing physical harm to Individual 1. So I cannot find that that objective was part of the offense of conviction here.”

The judge also specifically ruled that Wazed was not a ‘victim’ in the case.

Judge Bricetti concluded that Ahmed’s sole reason for bribing the FBI agent was to embarrass Wazed for political gain. “This case is all about furthering Ahmed’s political aims, getting confidential information to expose what Ahmed apparently thought was corrupt behavior by the ruling party and otherwise embarrass [Sajeeb Wazed],” the judge stated.  According to court transcripts, Wazed was present in court when the judge made this ruling.

It should be noted that at no time did the US prosecutors ever claim in court that there was any intention to ‘kill’ the prime minister’s son, as has been widely reported in Bangladesh.

The ‘journalist’

In its sentencing submission the government said that Ahmed had distributed the confidential information to three men, for which he earned $30,000. One of the men was ‘a Bangladeshi journalist’

.

The police in Bangladesh are claiming that the editor Rehman is this journalist, and on Tuesday the police said that they had found some FBI documents at this house during a search.

The police are also suggesting that Rehman may have been one of the three ‘associates’ involved in the meeting in January 2015.

The US court records do not provide the identity of this journalist. However, the only claim made by the US prosecutors about the ‘journalist’ is that he or she received confidential FBI information from Ahmed. The prosecutors do not link the journalist to their claim – dismissed by the judge – that Ahmed planned to physically harm Wazed.

The prosecutors also do not claim that the meeting in January 2015 was about anything other than discussing the exchange of additional confidential law enforcement information.

In apparent response to widespread skepticism about the legitimacy of the arrest of Rahman, on Monday Wazed published a further Facebook post.

It read: “The US Department of Justice discovered Shafik Rehman’s direct involvement in the plot to kidnap and kill me. They provided this evidence to our Government. He was arrested based on this evidence. I cannot disclose more, but the evidence is direct and irrefutable.”

And he tweeted: ‘US DOJ discovered #ShafikRehman in plot to kill @sajeebwazed. Provided evidence’.

On being asked to comment on Wazed’s claim, Peter Carr from the US Department of Justice told TheWire, “We’ll decline to comment.”

Government repression of journalists grows: AHRC, FIDH, OMCT statement

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, FIDH, and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

 

The Bangladesh Government’s attempts to silence free speech continue. Several senior journalists and writers are facing trumped up charges and arbitrary detention for having published stories that are critical of the authorities. Mr. Shafik Rehman, an 81-year-old author, anti-death penalty campaigner, TV presenter, and journalist, has become the latest victim of this systematic abuse of the judicial system to repress freedom of expression in Bangladesh.

In the early morning of 16 April 2016, plainclothed police, who did not have any warrant of arrest against Rehman, gained access to his house in Dhaka by falsely claiming to be “journalists” from a private TV channel, and arrested the veteran journalist, a British national of Bangladeshi origin.

After taking Rehman to the Detective Branch Police headquarters, the police showed him to be arrested in relation to a pending criminal case registered in August 2015 for “conspiring to abduct and assassinate” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is an immigrant in the United States and an Information and Technology Adviser to the Prime Minister. A Metropolitan Magistrate of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka placed Rehman in police remand for five days, where local human rights groups fear he will be tortured.

Rehman’s arrest is the latest in a wave of detentions and trumped up charges against journalists and critics of the Government. Several other individuals, including renowned journalists, are currently in detention and face dozens of trumped up and falsified criminal cases.

On 11 April 2013, the Government detained Mr. Mahmudur Rahman, Acting Editor of Daily Amar Desh, a national daily newspaper, and shut down his newspaper for publishing stories about a corruption scam involving the Prime Minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and her Adviser on Energy and Mineral Resources Affairs. Rahman has now spent over three years in arbitrary detention, and currently faces 72 criminal cases. Over the past years, Rahman has been granted bail by the Courts, but each time the police present a new criminal case against him in order to prevent him from being released.

Mr. Abdus Salam, Chairman of Ekushey TV, was arrested on 6 January 2015 on alleged pornography charges, after his private TV channel broadcast a speech of an exiled Senior Vice Chairperson of the BNP [Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the main opposition political party], Mr. Tareque Rahman. Later, the Government allegedly took active part in helping a pro-government controversial businessman purchase the majority shares in Ekushey TV from Abdus Salam, who is still in detention.

Mr. Shawkat Mahmud, Editor of Weekly Economics Time, has been arbitrarily detained since 18 August 2015 and now faces 24 fabricated criminal cases. He is associated with the opposition party and is known to be critical of the Government. As with Mahmudur Rahman, whenever the Courts grant Shawkat Mahmud bail, the police present a new case against him to keep him in detention.

Mr. Mahfuz Anam, Editor of The Daily Star, is facing 79 cases of sedition and defamation for having published reports in 2007 that accused now-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of corruption. These reports were based on uncorroborated information and Mahfuz Anam has since stated that it was a mistake to have published them, but nevertheless faces 17 sedition and 62 defamation cases. On 11 April 2016, the High Court stayed the proceedings of 72 of the cases filed against him, but he still could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison if he is convicted of the charges he faces.

This abuse of the judicial system to silence and harass journalists is creating a climate of fear and self-censorship in Bangladesh. The trumped up charges and arbitrary detentions of Government critics is a violation of international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Bangladesh has ratified. The international community, in particular the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, must engage actively to stop the repression of free expression in Bangladesh. All journalists and individuals detained for exercising their basic right to free expression, including Shafik Rehman, Mahmudur Rahman, Abdus Salam and Shawkat Mahmud, must be immediately and unconditionally released.

Arrest of Journalist in Bangladesh Conspiracy Case Triggers Concerns

By Maaz Hussain / Voice of America 

April 19, 2016; NEW DELHI

Police in Bangladesh have arrested a veteran journalist on charges of plotting to kill the formerly U.S.-based son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and they are preparing to arrest another newspaper editor in the same case.

Rights group campaigners say that the Hasina-led government has been using harsh tactics to crack down on dissent, which, they say, could threaten freedom of speech and press in Bangladesh.

The Hasina-led government relies on such tactics as its key weapon after “occupying the office without the people’s true mandate,” said legal rights activist Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, liaison officer of the Hong Kong-based Asian Legal Resource Center.

“The use of strong-arm tactics is not surprising in a jurisdiction where the basic rule-of-law institutions, like the law enforcement agencies, the crime investigation agency, the prosecution and the courts, survive as subjugated tools in the hands of the government of the day,” Ashrafuzzaman told VOA.

Hasina and her Awami League-led government are using sedition and criminal defamation laws to systematically silence media voices that they view as being hostile to their interests, said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch.  

“By going after leading editors of newspapers and magazines using harsh criminal charges, it's clear she's engaged in a bare-knuckled pummeling of what remains of Bangladeshis' rights to freedom of the press and freedom of expression,” Robertson told VOA.