BANGLADESH. LAW ENFORCERS ACCUSED OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

Bangladeshi security forces committed serious abuses in 2005 including extra-judicial killings and torture of detainees, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report.
"The country's human rights record, already of pressing concern, worsened as Bangladesh security forces continue to commit abuses including extra-judicial killings, excessive use of force and custodial torture," the US-based organisation said.
The government did not dispute the deaths but rejected the term "extra-judicial killings." It said the killings were not unlawful because they occurred when suspects resisted arrest or were caught in "crossfire" between security personnel and suspected criminals. "Between January and October 2005, an estimated 300 persons were killed at the hands of the security forces...human rights groups and journalists have demanded an inquiry into each death, but the government has refused," the report added. Critics of the government's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite crime-fighting unit responsible for many of the deaths, accused personnel of acting as judge, jury and executioner.