About a year ago, a leading business leader told me a story about another business tycoon and once-powerful adviser to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He is now in prison, facing a number of cases ranging from money laundering to crimes against humanity, and this is the second time he has returned to prison. So, the story goes that when Hasina formed the government in 2009, she asked the said adviser what job he would like to have. To her utter disbelief, he apparently asked for a position that would allow him to oversee prison reform. Since prisons fall under the Ministry of Home Affairs, there was virtually no chance she would agree. She asked him why he wanted responsibility for prisons. The adviser, I was told, explained that when he was imprisoned during 2007-08, he had been lodged in one of the condemned cells at the Old Dhaka Central Jail. One night, while offering Tahajjud prayer, he went into prostration and felt something cold beneath his forehead. A chilling sensa...

T he recent visit to Bangladesh by UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet attracted quite a significant amount of interest among rights activists globally, as it came after her controversial trip to China in May. She went to China despite opposition from rights activists and the United States which had expressed concerns that she would not have unfettered access to people subjected to alleged torture and intimidations. Later, on June 15, she told the Human Rights Council that she was unable to meet the detained Uyghurs. Some of these activists expressed concerns that her Dhaka visit could be used by the government, who faces criticism for widespread abuses and repressive laws, in claiming that it had nothing to hide.   Prior to her Dhaka trip, nine human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), issued a joint statement on August 10, urging the UN rights chief to publicly call for an immediate end to serious human rights violations, including torture and disap...

Does anyone know what had happened to Utpal Das? If you cannot remember who Utpal is, no one would blame you. Because, he is not a celebrity like all those familiar faces on our TV screens. Utpal, however, was in the news for quite some time in 2017, following his abduction and eventual return after two and a half months from confinement by his abductors. Before his abduction, Utpal was working as a journalist at a little-known online news portal called Purbapashchimbd.news. Till today, neither Utpal nor the law enforcing agencies have told us where he was for such a long period and who were behind his mysterious disappearance. There's a popular perception in society that those involved with the media are well looked after by the media. So, it was expected that the media fraternity would investigate this case and reveal the truth. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Utpal's silence is akin to that of all other survivors of alleged enforce disappearances in the last decade ...