Formal charge filed against Ziaul Ahsan for enforced disappearance, killing

The prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Wednesday filed a formal charge against former director general (DG) of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) sacked Major General Ziaul Ahsan, over his alleged role in enforced disappearances and more than 100 killings.

Prosecutor Shyikh Mahdi submitted the charge at the office of the ICT Registrar. The ICT-1 is likely to hold a hearing on the matter later in the day.

Ziaul Ahsan is currently in custody and facing trial in multiple cases involving allegations of abduction, torture, enforced disappearance, killings and other crimes against humanity.

Earlier, the prosecution compared him with Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said that, like those known as the “Butchers of the Balkans,” Ziaul Ahsan was the “butcher of Bangla.”

“He was the architect of a culture of enforced disappearance, torturing people at various torture centres, killing them and disposing of their bodies. Whoever tried to raise their voice against the Awami League government was abducted by Ziaul Ahsan—first as a senior official of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and later as DG of the NTMC—made a victim of enforced disappearance, tortured and pushed to near-death experiences. Many of his victims are yet to return home,” the chief prosecutor said.

He further said that during his tenure as NTMC DG Ziaul Ahsan imported several globally banned technologies and equipment to keep people of opposing ideologies and opinions under surveillance.

He also alleged that during the July–August student-led mass uprising, the information blackout imposed by the then government was enforced on Ziaul Ahsan’s orders, preventing people at home and abroad from learning about the atrocities allegedly committed by the government and its agencies.