Op-Ed column in the IHT where Tasneem Khalil talks about being tortured in Bangladesh

[shaad]

I came across this op-ed article in the International Herald Tribune today, and thought I'd mention it here, since it seems to be an interesting bookend to the more laudatory op-ed piece (Bangladesh's model) posted on another thread. While I am generally on record as being supportive of the current administration, albeit with certain reservations, I can't say that I was thrilled by this account. Your views?

Surviving torture in Bangladesh
By Tasneem Khalil
Sunday, March 2, 2008
STOCKHOLM:

My wife says I talk too much and invite trouble. On May 11, 2007, her observation was confirmed: I "invited" trouble by talking too much against the military-backed interim government in Bangladesh.

With a midnight ring of my doorbell, three or four plainclothes men - who identified themselves as the "joint forces" - entered my Dhaka apartment, detained me without charge, and seized my passport, cell phones, computers and documents. I was threatened at gun-point while my wife, holding my six-month-old son, watched. I was pushed into a car, blindfolded and handcuffed.

Four months earlier, in January, the Bangladesh military had installed a puppet technocrat government through a bloodless coup and declared a "state of emergency." The junta's emergency rules suspended parts of the Constitution, made any criticism of the government or the military a punishable offense, put a blanket ban on political activity, and sharply curtailed press freedom.

The military intervention brought an end to gruesome street-battles between two feuding political camps led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League, and at first many Bangladeshis welcomed the de facto coup.

But skyrocketing prices, a devastated economy and rampant human rights abuses have changed their minds. Over the past year, the military has set up torture and detention facilities across the country and targeted political parties with an "anti-corruption" witch hunt that saw the arrests of more than 400,000 people, including two former prime ministers who lead the two biggest political parties.

The military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, or DGFI, which remains the driving force behind the de facto military rule, led a campaign to establish control over civil and political affairs, carrying out overt and covert operations against opposition parties and members of the media.

After my arrest, I was taken to a torture facility set up by the directorate inside its Dhaka headquarters. Thus began my 22-hour ride on the torture train, as my captors - high- and mid-level DGFI officers - tortured me, interrogated me and forced me to sign false confessions. I was questioned at length about my work as an editor for the Dhaka-based Daily Star newspaper, as a news representative for CNN in Bangladesh, and as a consultant researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Continued in the International Herald Tribune...