A retired Bangladesh Army brigadier general on Thursday told the International Crimes Tribunal that former Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) intelligence chief Lt. Col. (retd.) Ziaul Ahsan directly ordered a series of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, including the murder of a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) member whose body was later identified through DNA testing.

Testifying before International Crimes Tribunal-1 in a crimes against humanity case, retired Brig. Gen. Md. Monirul Haque alleged that blindfolded detainees were taken from RAB-8's Barishal camp to the coastal area of Patharghata, where they were executed aboard a trawler before their bodies were dumped into the estuary.

He told the court that each victim's body was tied to heavy sacks before being shot at point-blank range. According to his testimony, the victims' abdomens were then slashed with knives to prevent the bodies from floating to the surface before they were thrown into the water.

Monirul said he witnessed one such killing from the roof of the vessel and later heard several more gunshots and splashes, leading him to believe that multiple bodies were disposed of at different locations as the boat slowly moved through the estuary.

The retired officer testified that a body recovered several days later in the Shoronkhola area was identified through DNA testing as Nazrul, a member of the then Bangladesh Rifles, now Border Guard Bangladesh. He alleged Nazrul had been forcibly disappeared before being killed in what he described as a retaliatory act.

The witness also alleged that Ziaul Ahsan later ordered the "elimination" of a boatman named Alkas over fears he could leak information about the covert operations. He said Major Sabbir, then RAB-8's second-in-command, refused to carry out the order, but Alkas disappeared shortly afterward. Monirul told the tribunal he strongly suspected RAB's intelligence wing was responsible.

Describing a broader pattern of abuse, Monirul testified that many operations publicly presented as "crossfire" incidents were, in reality, staged killings in which detainees had already been executed before the scenes were fabricated. He further alleged that senior RAB officials, including then Director General Mokhlesur Rahman, used the term "Wajibatul Qatl"("must be killed") when instructing officers to eliminate selected suspects.

The testimony was given before International Crimes Tribunal-1 in the ongoing trial of Ziaul Ahsan on charges including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity. Ziaul, who has denied wrongdoing, listened to the proceedings from the dock.

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