US sanctions RAB, seven of its officials
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Tribune Report, Published: December 11th, 2021
Dozens of other people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, and North Korea also face sanction
The US government has slapped seven former and current senior officials of the Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB) with sanctions over allegations of human rights abuses.
Sanctions were also imposed on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, and North Korea,
while Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group was added to an investment blacklist under
Section 7031(c) of the FY 2021 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act.
The officials include former RAB director general (DG) and incumbent Inspector General of Police Benazir
Ahmed and incumbent RAB DG Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, according to a press release issued by
the US Department of Treasury on Friday.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment, reports
Reuters.
The others are RAB Additional Director General (ADG-Operations) Khan Mohammad Azad, and former
RAB ADGs of Operations Tofayel Mustafa Sorwar, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Mohammad Anwar Latif
Khan and Miftah Uddin Ahmed, former commanding officer of RAB Unit 7.
The US State Department linked Benazir, the current inspector general of Bangladesh Police, and
Lieutenant Colonel Miftah Uddin Ahmed, former commanding officer of RAB Unit 7, to the “extrajudicial”
killing of Akramul Haque, a councillor of Teknaf Municipality in Cox’s Bazar, during an anti-drugs
operation in May 2018.
The statement said the allegations of human rights abuses by RAB threaten US national security interests
by undermining the rule of law, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the economic
prosperity of the people of Bangladesh.
The US government also announced visa restrictions on Benazir, who served as RAB DG from January
2015 to April 2020, due to “his involvement in gross violations of human rights, making him ineligible for
entry into the United States,” according to the statement.
Dubbed as an elite police unit, RAB is a joint task force founded during the BNP-Jamaat government in
2004. The force is composed of members of the police, army, navy, air force, and border guards seconded
to the RAB from their respective units.
Its mandate includes internal security, intelligence gathering related to criminal activities, and governmentdirected investigations.
According to the press release, NGOs have alleged that RAB and other Bangladeshi law enforcement are responsible for more than 600 disappearances since 2009, nearly 600 extrajudicial killings since 2018, and torture.
