Following the downfall of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, former army Brigadier General Abdullah Aman Azmi has been released after spending eight years in the notorious secret detention facility known as Aynaghor, or “House of Mirrors.
The senior army official release occurred on August 6 amid state-wide public protests and prolonged civil unrest that ultimately led the Hasina’s resignation and flight from the country.
Who is Aman Azmi
Aman Azmi is the son late Ghulam Azam, a renowned leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party of Bangladesh. He was forcibly taken from his home in 2016 after defending his father’s legacy and ideology.
The Hasina regime had long been criticised for its oppressive tactics, including the disappearance and the dentition of political opponents including, a prominent Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Prize laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus just on order.
Azim’s detention was emblematic of the Hasina regime’s brutal crackdown on dissent, as he was reportedly held in isolation without trial, deprived of sunlight and family contact for nearly a decade.
Azmi in secret torture cell
Azmi alleged that during his period in the secret detention facility Aynaghor, run by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh’s defence forces’ intelligence faced severe isolation.
Azmi’s family remained unaware of his fate for years, he learned of his mother’s passing in the cell three years after her death. His wife believed him dead and remarried after waiting for seven years.
Following his release, he described the conditions as torturous, stating, “How long have I not seen the light and air, I have not seen the world of Allah, I have not been allowed to hear the call to prayer. The amount of tears that I have wiped on this towel, if collected, a lake could have been made.”
What led to Hasina regime’s downfall?
The protest over the controversial quotas for government jobs turned violent after the pro-government Bangladesh Chhatra League and Police attacked the peaceful demonstrators earlier this month.
Subsequently, the unrest spread across the country. Clashes were the bloodiest since the start of the protests, with more than two dozen getting killed and over 1,500 getting injured.
The situation in Dhaka remained very volatile, intense and critical, according to Al Jazeera. Violence has spread to other cities and smaller towns.
The ‘anti-discrimination student movement’ activists protested against the reservation quota system that had a 30% reservation for families of the country’s freedom fighters, which they say favours the supporters of the Awami League, the nation’s ruling party. With the rising economic issues and higher unemployment, the protests intensified.
Bangladesh’s private sector, once a leading factor in its growing economy, is now stagnant. This led to the private sector offering fewer job opportunities and increased the demand for government sector jobs.
The ‘freedom fighter quota’ reduces the number of government job opportunities, which are open to all, and the protesting students want these jobs to be filled based on merit.
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