UN Finds Bangladesh Disappeared and Unlawfully Detained Dil Mohammed
From No Man’s Land to Black Sites
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled that the imprisonment of Rohingya community leader Dil Mohammed is unlawful, calling for his immediate release, compensation, and accountability for those responsible. The decision, adopted in August and released publicly today, finds that he was subjected to enforced disappearance, prolonged solitary confinement, coercive interrogations, and months of incommunicado detention before ever being brought to court.
The Working Group held that Bangladesh’s actions breached Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It classified the case under Category I (no legal basis for detention) and Category III (grave violations of fair trial rights). The opinion notes that he was initially seized in January 2023 and held at undisclosed locations (including Aynaghor), and that authorities failed to promptly inform him of charges or provide access to legal counsel.
In an unusually strong instruction, the Working Group has ordered not only his release but also an “enforceable right to compensation and other reparations,” an independent investigation into his detention, and dissemination of the opinion “as widely as possible.”
I will be writing a further analysis, including quotes from counsel and the family. For now, this post serves as a brief announcement of the ruling.