RAPID ACTION BATTALION GOES AFTER DRUG-DEALERS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000629 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2018 TAGS: PTER PREL PINR PINS MASS MARR BG SUBJECT: RAPID ACTION BATTALION GOES AFTER DRUG-DEALERS, VIOLENT LEFTISTS IN RAJSHAHI Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The new Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) commander in Rajshahi said his top priorities were fighting drug dealers and violent leftists. He said deaths still occurred in firefights with the leftists but added that all killings were investigated by independent magistrates. Although he said he had increased human rights training within his battalion, there remained a clear need for outside training to improve his force's transparency and accountability. -------------- -------------- RAB 5: GOING AFTER DRUG DEALERS AND VIOLENT LEFTISTS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is Bangladesh's main counterterrorism force and is divided into 12 geographically-based battalions. The Commanding Officer of RAB's Rajshahi-based Fifth Battalion, Lt Col Md. Israt Hossain (BA-3346, D0B 18 May 1967),told POLOFF that the Islamic extremist group Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh no longer had a significant presence in the Rajshahi region, which lies along the northwestern border with India, and was not re-emerging. He acknowledged, though, that the violent leftist group Sabohara remained active in a few isolated areas that lacked regular police presence. In addition to Sabohara members, the top priority of the battalion was fighting the trafficking of drugs including heroin and phensidyl, a codeine-based, highly addictive cough syrup produced in India. Israt said drug trafficking was particularly tough to fight when the Padma (Ganges) River along the Indian border was at low flow. (Note: Although several Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies fight drug trafficking, RAB has made some high-profile drug busts in the past year, including a Dhaka raid in which methamphetamines with a street value exceeding $1 million were seized. End Note.) ¶3. (C) A report issued by the Bangladesh human-rights group Odikhar found that the Fifth Battalion ranked second of the RAB's 12 battalions in number of extrajudicial killings with 15 from January 12, 2007 through May 11, 2008. (Comment: The relatively high number probably reflects the RAB crackdown on the Rajshahi-based JMB that began after a nationwide bombing campaign by the terrorist group in late 2005, as well as the continued operations against Sabohara. End comment.) Three of those extrajudicial killings -- "exchange of fire" is Israt's preferred term -- have come since Israt took over in February. He said all three occurred during encounters with Sabohara; in one case the Fifth Battalion raided a meeting and in the other two cases RAB patrols uncovered hideouts. He said local magistrates launched enquiries into each of the three crossfire deaths as is standard procedure. One enquiry found the use of force justified and the other two have yet to be completed, Israt said. He said he knew of no exchange of fire in the Fifth Battalion that had been ruled as unjustified by a magistrate. -------------- HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE FIFTH BATTALION -------------- ¶4. (C) Israt also discussed another alleged extrajudicial killing involving the Fifth Battalion from May 2007 that received attention from international human rights groups. Odhikar issued a report alleging that a man was beaten to death by RAB members while guarding his litchi orchard; Israt insisted the victim was beaten by an irate crowd that accused him of a kidnapping. He said an internal enquiry found RAB personnel who arrived at the scene had failed to control the crowd; they received punishments such as a loss of seniority and fines. Separately, the victim's family filed a case with Rajshahi police accusing the RAB of involvement in the killing. Rajshahi Deputy Commission of Police Barrister Zillur Rahman said the initial finding of the ongoing police investigation concluded that RAB members were not involved. He acknowledged, however, that the police had not interviewed the accused RAB members; in fact, the police didn't even know their names. Zillur Rahman said the police had asked the RAB for the names two months earlier but had yet to receive an answer. He later confided to POLOFF that pressure from the DHAKA 00000629 002 OF 002 RAB sometimes made proper investigations difficult. ¶5. (C) Israt said he participated in the first day of a two-week human-rights training course for senior RAB officers in Dhaka in March. As a result, he said, he subsequently instituted a human rights training program of five half-day sessions for his non-commissioned officers. "I tell them that good behavior toward the people is not a bar to your achievement," he said. -------------- FIFTH BATTALION ORGANIZATION -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Fifth Battalion is headquartered near Rajshahi University on a large compound that includes a main office, dormitories, a soccer field, a makeshift volleyball court, and a small vegetable garden. The buildings are in want of repair; the dormitories are festooned with drying laundry flapping in the breeze. The battalion is divided into companies, each of about 125 people headed by a major, which are divided into squads of about 25 headed by a lieutenant, a captain or a police equivalent (Note: RAB members are seconded from the military, the police and the civil service, typically for two-year assignments. End Note). The smallest units are "sections" that go on operations as a group, typically 10 members led by a junior commissioned officer. The Fifth Battalion is spread over five camps, two in Rajshahi city and three in surrounding rural areas. ¶7. (C) Israt said he was a 21-year army veteran with a background in intelligence. He most recently commanded an infantry battalion. Among his previous assignments were international peacekeeper in Somalia in 1993 and military observer in Georgia in 2002. He fancied himself as a man of the people, and said he had given out his official cellphone number to the public to ensure accessibility. -------------- COMMENT: HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING NECESSARY -------------- ¶8. (C) Israt described the RAB as a results-oriented organization that believed in "doing things in a way that means business." Although he spoke of the importance of human rights, there clearly is much room for improvement. PolOff's conversations with Israt and local police indicated the need for more transparent and credible investigations of extrajudicial killings and other allegations of human rights violations. Better rules of engagement and systems of accountability also appear needed. USG-sponsored human rights training could provide the framework to make needed changes to ensure the Fifth Battalion systematically respects internationally recognized human rights. In doing so, not only would Bangladeshi civil society benefit but so too will the U.S.-Bangladesh partnership to deny space to terrorists in what has historically been a moderate Islamic country with a positive perception of the United States. Moriarty