Murder claims surface in Dhaks’s drug war
cox’s bazar (bangladesh) — Bangladesh says Akramul Haque was a meth kingpin who died after opening fire at police, one of 130 accused dealers killed in murky late-night shootouts in an increasingly bloody war on drugs.
But his wife has gone public with tapes that she says prove her husband was murdered in a set-up, causing a sensation in Bangladesh.
Ayesha Begum says the phone conversations she recorded with Haque on the night he died contradict the official narrative — that he was armed and shot at police, who returned fire in self-defence.
“They killed him in cold blood,” Begum said from Teknaf, in southeast Bangladesh, where her husband, a local councillor, was gunned down on May 27.
“They said it was a shootout. But his hands were tied when he was killed. Someone was told to untie his hands after he was shot,” she said, describing what she heard over the phone.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said police had copies of the recordings and were investigating.
Rights groups say that if true, the chilling tapes are proof that police have committed extrajudicial killings in the campaign that began on May 15 and has also seen 15,000 people arrested.
The recordings have cast doubt on what many Bangladeshis considered a legitimate effort to stamp out drugs, most notably “yaba”, a cheap and hugely popular methamphetamine pill.
There have been calls for an immediate inquiry, with some drawing parallels to the Philippines.
A letter co-signed by 10 highprofile Bangladeshis, including independence heroes and celebrated writers, said the allegations were “unimaginable in any democratic state and society”.