Bangladesh must act on its ‘disappeared’ | Letters

Bangladesh high commissioner Nazmul Quaunine defends his government’s human rights record and claims the Guardian is wrongly reporting the situation in Bangladesh (Letters, 27 June). I disagree.

Over 200 people have been disappeared by the security services under the current government since 2009. One of the more high-profile disappeared people is my client Ahmad Bin Quasem, or Arman as he is known to friends and family. He is a Bangladeshi barrister who was disappeared by the security services in front of his wife, sister, and two young daughters. The UN working group on enforced and involuntary disappearances called on Bangladesh to “act now to halt an increasing number of enforced disappearances in the country” and to immediately reveal Arman’s whereabouts. Arman’s disappearance has also been raised in a parliamentary question by Shabana Mahmood MP. Despite this, there has been no action nor response from Bangladesh.

I have contacted Mr Quaunine to arrange a meeting to discuss this case but he has refused to engage on this issue. I respectfully ask him to reconsider.
Michael James Polak
Barrister, Church Court Chambers