Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Bangladeshi authorities to immediately comply with a High Court order to locate 30-year-old fisherman Miraj Sheikh, in what appears to be the “first enforced disappearance” since the July 2024 uprising.
The rights group, in a press release issued recently, warned that the new government is backtracking on critical reforms intended to end a “systematic culture of torture” and security force abuse.
Sheikh was reportedly detained by Coast Guard officers on 10 April 2026 in Joymonir Ghol, Mongla, and taken away by speedboat. His family’s lawyer, Muzahedul Islam Shahin, noted that although the Coast Guard initially claimed Sheikh was “on an operation,” they later denied he was ever in their custody.
In a significant piece of evidence, a man identifying as a Coast Guard member reportedly took Sheikh’s motorcycle from the scene of the abduction on 21 April, only for Coast Guard personnel to return it the following day.
On 12 July 2026, the High Court set a 15-day deadline for law enforcement to produce him.
Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s deputy Asia director, said the case demonstrates how these practices remain “entrenched” within security agencies.
She criticised the newly elected BNP government for allowing two landmark reforms – the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, 2025, and the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance, 2025 – to expire.
A proposed new bill would further weaken oversight by barring the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from investigating security forces, restricting them to merely requesting reports from the heads of the agencies involved.
“Allowing the police to investigate enforced disappearances will not ensure accountability,” Ganguly warned.
An interim commission recently identified 1,569 disappearances between 2009 and 2024, uncovering secret facilities containing specialised interrogation rooms equipped with rotating chairs, pulley systems, and electric shock devices.
While 1,282 victims eventually reappeared, at least 251 remain missing and are presumed dead.
The report also recalled the 2014 abduction of 22 BNP-linked activists, 19 of whom are still missing.
Current legal efforts to address past abuses include trials at the International Crimes Tribunal involving 10 serving army officers formerly of the Rapid Action Battalion, linked to cases like that of lawyer Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, who was held in secret for eight years.
HRW is now calling for the restoration of the NHRC’s full investigative authority to prevent a resurgence of these abuses.
