The chief advisor, Professor Muhammad Yunus, along with some selected media outlets and victims, visited the secret detention centers known as ‘Ayanaghar’.
On Wednesday morning, he visited three such secret detention centers located in Agargaon, Kachukhet, and Uttara in Dhaka.
These detention centers were reportedly used during the regime of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and were situated near the offices of the police’s special forces, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) of Bangladesh.
The chief advisor stated that, over the last 15 years, individuals who were victims of enforced disappearances were detained and tortured in these secret facilities.
“It was a horrific sight!” said Professor Yunus after visiting the detention centers.
“People were detained without any reason, labeled as terrorists, and tortured in these cells,” he added.
Several government advisors were also present during the visit to the secret detention centers, which became known as ‘Ayanaghar’.
Among them were the Information and Broadcasting Advisor Nahid Islam and the Youth and Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, who themselves were detained in these ‘Ayanaghars’ and identified the specific locations.
Last July, during the public uprising, after being released from detention, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud told BBC Bengali that they had been taken and held at unknown locations.
Among the victims present was Abdullahil Aman Azmi, the son of the late Golam Azam, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, who was a victim of enforced disappearance during the Awami League’s rule.
Another former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Mir Kashem Ali’s son Ahmed Bin Kashem, was also present at the visit.
However, the organization “Mayer Dak” (Voice of Mothers), which represents the families of those disappeared during the Awami League’s rule, was not invited to join the visit.
“We were not informed about this by the government. This is very disappointing,” said Sanjida Islam, the coordinator of the platform, speaking to BBC Bengali.