Here is VOED statement :
Honourable Chair, Respected Delegates, and Human Rights Advocates,
Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah.
My name is Masrur Anwar Chowdhury.
I stand before you as a survivor of enforced disappearance.
I was abducted by RAB, held in a secret cell, tortured, falsely accused, and left with trauma that continues to shape every day of my life.
I speak today on behalf of VOED – Voice of Enforced Disappeared Persons—a platform of 200+ survivors and over 1,000 affected family members.
We are living proof of a crime that continues to occur in silence.
And I want to thank Mayer Dak and Tuli Apu for giving us this platform, and for their tireless work to bring justice and dignity to those the world forgot.
Today, I want to speak not just about my story—but about a system.
Because enforced disappearance in Bangladesh is not a mistake.
It is a state-designed operation of fear, control, and elimination.
Many believe that only political party members like BNP or Jamaat are targeted.
But in reality, the majority of victims are ordinary religious individuals:
Practicing Muslims
University students
Businessmen
Madrasa teachers and students
Engineers, doctors, and everyday citizens
These are not terrorists.
They were never in court before.
But they were abducted, tortured, and killed under the false label of “Islamic extremism.”
Here is how the system works:
1. Victims are picked up by RAB, Police, DB, CTTC, DGFI—all operating together as tools of state terror.
2. Yellow media outlets immediately publish false, sensationalist news to justify the abduction and paint the victim as a terrorist.
3. In secret custody, victims are tortured brutally—
Electric shocks to sensitive areas
Beatings for hours
Waterboarding
Sleep deprivation
Threats of death or rape of family members
4. Under this pressure, victims are forced to give false confessions.
These are recorded under Section 164 by compromised magistrates.
5. In court, judges influenced by politics deny bail and issue life sentences or death penalties, even when there is no evidence—only the coerced 164.
6. Victims in prison are treated like animals—
Kept in isolation
Not allowed to meet family
Denied legal help
Subjected to humiliation and mental torture
7. Families are silenced, victims disappear from society, and propaganda replaces justice.
The Hasina regime follows a chilling formula:
🔴 If the victim is brave and vocal—they are killed.
🔴 If useful for propaganda—they are branded as terrorists and jailed for life.
🔴 If low-risk—they are locked away for years without trial, under false cases.
This is not a war on terror.
This is a war on faith, freedom, and truth.
They even abducted women and children, violating all norms of justice and human rights.
And even if a victim is released, they return to a life of financial ruin, legal harassment, and deep trauma.
That is why we built VOED.
To speak where others fear.
To organize where others are broken.
To resist this machinery of silence.
We call on the United Nations, international human rights organizations, and democratic governments:
Recognize this as a state policy of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.
Condemn the use of anti-terror narratives to crush religious identity and political dissent.
Support independent investigations, international trials, and victim compensation.
Pressure the regime to end its crimes and free the disappeared.
