Custodial deaths: Birulia UP chairman 25th AL leader to die in prison

Saidur Rahman Sujan, the Organizing Secretary of Dhaka North District Swechchhasebak League and former Chairman of the Birulia Union Parishad in Savar, has become the latest victim of a systematic custodial death.

With Sujan, at least 25 Awami League leaders and activists have died in prison custody under suspicious and brutal circumstances.

Authorities of the Central Jail at Keraniganj claim that Sujan committed suicide by using his towel around 11am.

Sujan, the 45-year-old popular leader, was brought dead to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 12:30pm on Sunday.

He had 15 cases filed against him. Family members and the Awami League have alleged that he was tortured during remand and in prison.

After examining the body at home, Sujan’s family members said his throat and face had no signs of suicide.

In suicidal hanging, the body usually shows a clear ligature mark around the neck, running upward and obliquely. The face may be congested with a bluish hue, the tongue may protrude, and saliva might be present at one corner of the mouth. The eyes are often partially open, and petechial spots can appear on the face or conjunctivae.

The Yunus-led interim government has made a world record by filing over 80,000 cases against the Awami League leaders and activists and unnamed persons, arresting more than 3,60,000 people in 10 months, and imprisoning at least 1,37,000 Awami League men without trial.

Several hundred Awami League leaders and activists have been killed in targeted attacks since the July riots, with 172 in mob violence.

Earlier, an Awami League leader named Md Ali Azgar passed away on Eid-ul-Azha day on June 7 at the Central Jail in Keraniganj, Dhaka. The family claims that Ali Azgar was brutally tortured after being taken on remand and that prison authorities pushed him to death without providing him with proper treatment, even when he was seriously ill.

He was the general secretary of the Boubazar Unit Awami League of Ward No. 58, Dhaka Metropolitan South.

Awami League President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has condemned the incidents of murder, torture, rape, and looting and vowed to bring the culprits to book.

She described how the terrorists and militants have killed her party leaders and activists. The militants have looted and torched their houses. Those who escaped death are staying away from their families.

The killers are so brutal that they are not afraid of chopping or shooting someone in broad daylight. People are also afraid to protest. Robberies and looting by mobs are taking place in houses and offices every day. People are killed if they refuse to pay the toll. Women and children are raped every day. However, not all incidents receive media coverage.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Awami League expressed its strongest condemnation and protest over his death and the deaths of all others killed in custody. The party demanded an immediate judicial investigation into all such incidents and exemplary punishment for those responsible.

Terming it “unimaginable”, the Awami League said the party is deeply alarmed and outraged by the continuous and horrific acts of torture and violence being committed by the illegal, fascist Yunus regime against its leaders and activists, both in custody and across the country.

There seems to be no method of repression that the Yunus-led occupying government, backed by militant elements, is unwilling to use. In fact, they are inventing new and brutal techniques of political persecution.

As part of this terrifying trend, even inside prisons, Awami League members are subjected to inhumane torture by agents of this extremist regime.

“Despite being illegally detained, we hoped our people would at least be safe from physical harm in custody. But even that hope has now turned into horror. To date, at least 25 Awami League leaders and activists have died in prison custody under suspicious and brutal circumstances.

“We are witnessing firsthand the collapse of public safety in Bangladesh. Every day, the media reports new cases of murder, rape, extortion, land grabbing, theft, robbery, and violent crime. Meanwhile, the unconstitutional and illegitimate Yunus government is actively working to alienate Awami League members from their own homeland, treating them as enemies.

“From prison cells to city streets, citizens of all ages and backgrounds—children, the elderly, and women—are enduring relentless abuse. Just yesterday (June 14), Liaquat Ali Beg, a senior citizen over 70 years old and Vice-President of Khulna Metropolitan Awami League, was viciously beaten by BNP-Jamaat cadres. Instead of arresting the attackers, police took the injured elderly victim into custody.

“The Bangladesh Awami League strongly condemns and protests this regime of persecution that targets not just Awami League members, but all citizens who believe in the spirit of the Liberation War, across all walks of life — solely because of their political beliefs or ideology.

“We firmly believe that the pain, trauma, and suffering inflicted by this inhumane regime will one day find its own voice—a voice of resistance, justice, and rebellion. That voice will burn through the fortress of oppression and shake the very foundations of the fascist regime of Muhammad Yunus, both inside and outside.”